(y 


7 


^  y 


-+- 


51   '^^E.  S  SIER  . 


THE 


PLURALITY  or  WORLDS. 


WITH 


AN    INTRODUCTION 


BY 


EDWARD   HITCPICOCK,   D.D., 

PRESIDENT  OF  A3IHEKST  COLLEGE,  AND  PROFESSOR  OF  THEOLOGY  AND  GEOLOGY. 


gSeto  iJiitiotr 


TO   ■WHICH  IS   ADDED 


A  SUPPLEMEIVTARY. DIALOGUE, 

IN  WHICH  THE  AUTHOR'S  REYIEV/ERS  ARE  REVIEWED 


^  f^'  €%  iW" 

On  Nature's  Alps  I  staud  r^S^  ^  ^'-^-^ 

And  see  a  thousand  firmaments  beneath  L.^^  *''\^'c^  s  %  >!?'%»  # 
A  thousand  systems,  as  a  thousand  graifS^     s  '-^'^<^3^^^^^^i:^.X^ 
So  much  a  stranger,  and  so  late  arrived,    'V>   ~  ^I^^iSs^^^^^^^o^i^ 
How  shall  man's  curious  spirit  not  inquire^*J,  '  "  '    ' "    '•'^f^M'^>5»^ 

What  are  the  natives  of  this  world  subliB^','.  '  S  .;  -->  '""^MM'^f^' 
Of  this  so  distant,  unterrestrial  sphere,  "^^fr,..-:  -\  .  ^-^^^  ^'■>  '^^!^^ 
Where  mortal,  untranslated,  never  strayed^'.v  "-.^i.  \  V  *"*^    ?^'^r^y^ 

NIGHT   THOUGiilJ':.'-    ^  ^'    .,        '  - '/    -■?."■        '7^'-^" 

BOSTON":  T  V'^,;^ ; . .  %--^:A^ 

PUBLISHED    BY   D.  LOTHEOP    &   G^  Ol>>^ 
DOVER,  N.  H. :    G.  T.  DAY  &  CO. 


67351 


PREFACE 

TO   THE 

FIRST     EIDITION. 


Although  the  opinions  presented  in  the  following 
Essay  are  put  forwards  without  claiming  for  them  any 
value  beyond  what  they  may  derive  from  the  argu- 
ments there  offered,  they  are  not  published  without 
some  fear  of  giving  offence.  It  will  be  a  curious,  but 
not  a  very  wonderful  event,  if  it  should  now  be  deemed 
as  blamable  to  doubt  the  existence  of  inhabitants  of 
the  Planets  and  Stars,  as,  three  centuries  ago,  it  was 
held  heretical  to  teach  that  doctrine.  Yet  probably 
there  are  many  who  will  be  willing  to  see  the  question 
examined  by  all  the  light  which  modern  science  can 
throw  upon  it ;  and  such  an  examination  can  be  under- 
taken to  no  purpose,  except  the  view  which  has  of  late 
been  generally  rejected  have  the  arguments  in  its  favor 
fairly  stated  and  candidly  considered. 

Though  Revealed  Religion  contains  no  doctrine  rel- 


IV  PEEFACE. 

ative  to  tlie  inliabitants  of  planets  and  stars ;  and 
tlioug]i,  till  within  tlie  last  three  centuries,  no  Christian 
thinker  deemed  such  a  doctrine  to  be  required,  in  order 
to  complete  our  view  of  the  attributes  of  the  Creator ; 
jet  it  is  possible  that  at  the  present  day,  when  the  as- 
sumption of  such  inhabitants  is  very  generally  made 
and  assented  to,  many  persons  have-  so  mingled  this  as- 
sumption with  their  religious  belief,  that  they  regard  it 
as  an  essential  part  of  Natural  Keligion.  If  any  such 
persons  find  their  religious  convictions  interfered  with, 
and  their  consolatory  impressions  disturbed,  by  what  is 
said  in  this  Essay,  the  Author  will  deeply  regret  to  have 
had  any  share  in  troubling  any  current  of  pious  thought 
belonging  to  the  time.  But,  as  some  excuse,  it  may 
be  recollected,  that  if  such  considerations  had  prevailed, 
this  very  doctrine,  of  the  Plurality  of  Worlds,  would 
never  have  been  publicly  maintained.  And  if  such 
considerations  are  to  have  weight,  it  must  be  recol- 
lected, on  the  other  hand,  that  there  are  many  persons 
to  whom  the  assumption  of  an  endless  multitude  of 
Worlds  appears  difficult  to  reconcile  with  the  belief  of 
that  which,  as  the  Christian  Eevelation  teaches  us,  has 
been  done  for  this  our  World  of  Earth.  In  this  conflict 
of  religious  difficulties,  on  a  point  which  rather  belongs 


PREFACE.  V 

to  science  tlian  to  religion,  perhaps  pliilosopliical  argu- 
ments may  be  patiently  listened  to,  if  urged  as  argu- 
ments merely ;  and  in  that  hope,  they  are  here  stated, 
without  reserve  and  without  exaggeration. 

All  speculations  on  subjects  in  which  Science  and 
Eeligion  bear  upon  each  other,  are  liable  to  one  of  the 
two  opposite  charges; — that  the  speculator  sets  Philo- 
sophy and  Eeligion  at  variance  ;  or  that  he  warps 
Philosophy  into  a  conformity  with  Eeligion.  It  is 
confidently  hoped  that  no  candid  reader  will  bring 
either  of  these  charges  against  the  present  Essay.  With 
regard  to  the  latter,  the  arguments  must  speak  for 
themselves.  To  the  Author  at  least,  they  appear  to  be 
of  no  small  philosophical  force ;  though  he  is  quite, 
ready  to  weigh  carefully  and  candidly  any  answers 
which  may  be  offered  to  them.  With  regard  to  the 
amount  of  agreement  between  our  Philosophy  and  Ee- 
ligion, it  may  perhaps  be  permitted  to  the  Author  to 
say,  that  while  it  appears  to  him  that  some  of  his 
philosophical  conclusions  fall  in  very  remarkably  with 
certain  points  of  religious  doctrine,  he  is  well  aware 
that  Philosophy  alone  can  do  little  in  providing  man 
with  the  consolations,  hopes,  supports,  and  convictions 
which  Eeligion  offers;   and  he   acknowledges  it  as  a 


vi  PEEFACE. 

ground  of  deep  gratitude  to  the  Autlior  of  all  good, 
tliat  man  is  not  left  to  Pliilosoplij  for  those  blessings ; 
but  has  a  fuller  assurance  of  them,  by  a  more  direct 
communication  from  Him. 

Perhaps,  too,  the  Author  may  be  allowed  to  say, 
that  he  has  tried  to  give  to  the  book,  not  only  a  moral, 
but  a  scientific  interest ;  by  collecting  his  scientific  facts 
from  the  best  authorities,  and  the  most  recent  discover- 
ies. He  would  flatter  himself,  in  particular,  that  the 
view  of  the  Nebulae  and  of  the  Solar  System,  which 
he  has  here  given,  may  be  not  unworthy  of  some  atten- 
tion on  the  part  of  astronomers  and  observers,  as  an 
occasion  of  future  researches  in  the  skies. 


P  E  E  F  A  C  B 


TO    THE 


SECOND    EDITION. 


The  question  of  tTie  existence  of  living  creatures, 
and  especially  of  rational  and  responsible  creatures, 
in  or  about  tlie  luminaries  wliicli  we  discern  in  the 
skies,  has  naturally  excited  a  good  deal  of  curiosity 
in  minds  prone  to  speculation.  The  progress  .of  gen- 
eral opinion  on  this  question  has  been  influenced,  not 
only  by  man's  knowledge  of  the  physical  properties 
of  those  luminaries,  (which  knowledge,  even  now, 
is  almost  nothing,)  but  far  more,  by  the  prevalent 
habits  of  philosophical  thought,  and  by  the  received 
theological  doctrines.  In  the  times  of  antiquity,  when 
physical  tenets  were  mixed  with  mythological  fables, 
the  question,  whether  the  Moon  is  inhabited,  and  the 
like,  were  spoken  of;  but  those  who  asserted  that 
she  was,  held  their  opinion  rather  as  a  pleasant  fancy, 
than  as  a  real  conviction.  When  men  had  been 
taught  by  Kevealed  Eeligion  that  the  condition  of 
man,  as  a  responsible  creature,  required  a  special  pro- 
vision, to  save  him  from  eternal  ruin,  and  received 
this  aid  by  means  of  a  Great  Event,  which  occurred 


VUl  .  PREFACE     TO     THE 

at  a  certain  period  of  human  history;  it  then  be- 
came a  graver  matter,  for  religions  men,  to  assnme 
the  existence  of  responsible  creatnres,  in  parts  of 
the  universe  which  are  cut  off  from  all  communica- 
tion with  human  history.  On  this  account,  the  doc- 
trine of  Antipodes^  that  is,  of  the  existence  of  human 
beings  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  terrestial  globe, 
as  yet  unvisited  by  Christians,  was,  for  a  time,  held  to 
be  a  dangerous  and  heretical  opinion.  The  truth  of 
the  opinion  was,  however,  soon  established  beyond 
question.  It  may  be  added  also,  that  the  main  ground 
of  the  condemnation  which  religious  men  had  be- 
stowed upon  this  opinion,  namely,  the  want  of  access 
of  such  human  beings  to  the  means  of  spiritual  wel- 
fare, was  removed  at  the  same  time.  But  there  re- 
mained on  men's  minds  the  impression  that  the  con- 
demnation of  philosophical  opinions,  pronounced  on 
religious  grounds,  may  possibly  be  erroneous,  and  is 
generally  rash.  And  hence,  when  the  theories  of  Co- 
pernicus, and  the  telescope  of  Galileo,  had  proved 
to  the  satisfaction  of  thoughtful  men,  that  the  plan- 
ets were,  in  several  respects,  like  the  earth ;  and  had 
suggested  the  guess,  that  the  fixed  stars  were  perhaps 
so  many  suns ;  it  was  impossible  to  repress  the  con- 
jecture that  the  planets  might  have  had  their  inhabit- 
ants, and  the  stars  their  inhabited  planets. 

This  was  at  first  a  mere  conjecture.  Has  the  sub- 
sequent progress  of  discovery  and  reasoning  tended 
to  make  it  probable  or  improbable  ? 

The  discovery  that  the  planets  revolve  on  their 
axes ;   that  some  of  them  have  satellites ;   that  some 


SECOND     EDITION.  IX 

of  them  have  appearances  which  suggest  the  notion 
of  some  kind  of  atmosphere ;  operated  in  favor 
of  the  belief  of  their  being  inhabited.  The  immense 
distance  at  which  the  fixed  stars  were  proved  to  be, 
offered  a  reason  why  we  may  fail  to  see  their  planets, 
even  if  they  have  planets. 

The  immense  number  of  stars,  which  were  shown 
to  exist  by  the  improvements  in  telescopes;  and  the 
telescopic  resolution  of  nebulae,  in  part  at  least,  into 
stars,  made  the  notion  that  all  stars  are  the  centres 
of  inhabited  systems,  assume  a  vaster  form ;  but  this 
vastness  of  the  number  of  worlds  which  the  universe 
was  supposed  to  contain,  though  it  disturbed  the  minds 
of  some,  had  a  charm  for  others  ;  and  by  the  occasion 
it  presented  for  lofty  phrases  and  large  thoughts, 
made  the  opinion  of  the  plurality  of  worlds  popular, 
in  spite  of  the  religious  difficulties  which  attend  it. 

But  in  more  recent  times,  many  of  the  astronom- 
ical discoveries  which  have  been  made,  tend  to  render 
the  conjecture  of  the  plurality  of  inhabited  worlds 
improbable  on  physical  grounds.  The  discovery  of 
the  small  planetoids,  between  Mars  and  Jupiter,  dis- 
closed to  astronomers  a  number  of  bodies,  (now  nearly 
six  times  as  large  as  the  number  of  the  old  planets,) 
to  which  bodies,  in  consequence  of  their  smallness  and 
other  circumstances,  probably  most  persons,  even  of 
those  who  believed  Yenus,  Mars,  and  Jupiter  to  be 
inhabited,  would  hesitate  to  ascribe  inhabitants. 

Again :  it  was  found  that  many  of  the  Fixed  Stars 
are   physically  double,  and  therefore   cannot  be   the 


X  PEEFACE     TO     THE 

centres  of  simple  systems  of  planets,  as  tlie  Snn  is. 
And  that  sncli  double  stars  have  planets  revolving 
or  moving  near  them  at  all,  is  a  supposition  arbitrary, 
quite  unsujDported  by  any  analogy,  and  never  yet  shown 
to  be  physically  possible.  Again,  there  are  variable 
stars,  which  are,  evidently,  in  very  important  respects, 
unlike  our  Sun.  Moreover,  these  cases  of  double  stars, 
which  were  at  first  supposed  to  be  rare  exceptions 
to  a  general  rule,  are  now,  by  recent  examination, 
found  to  be  very  numerous ;  not  less  numerous  than 
one-third  of  the  whole  number  of  stars.  And  the 
variable  stars  are  also  very  numerous.  So  that  it  ap- 
pears to  be  not  improbable  that  a  single  permanent 
star  like  the  Sun,  even  leaving  its  planets  out  of  con- 
sideration, is  a  rare  exception,  instead  of  being  the 
rule.  And  with  all  these  negative  indications,  there  is 
found  in  the  heavens  no  vestige  of  anything  like  a 
planet  revolving  round  a  fixed  star. 

Also  the  argument  for  the  vastness  of  the  scheme 
of  the  universe,  which  was  suggested  by  the  resolution 
of  the  nebulae,  is  found  to  be  untenable.  ISTebulse 
can  no  longer  be  supposed  to  derive  their  nebular 
aspect  merely  from  being  more  distant  than  the 
definite  stars.  The  best  astronomers  agree  in  sup- 
posing nebulae  to  have  distances  of  the  same  order  as 
bright  stars.  Their  filmy  appearance  is  a  true  indi- 
cation of  a  highly  attenuated  substance ;  so  attenuated 
as  to  destroy  all  probability  that  they  are  inhabited 
worlds.  The  absence  of  all  observed  motion  among 
the  parts  of  nebulae  agrees  with  this  opinion  of  their 
t,enuity ;    while   the   spiral  arrangement   of  many   of 


SECOND     EDITION.  XI 

them  proves  that  nevertheless  thej  are  in  motion, 
and  suggests  modes  of  calculating  their  tenuity,  and 
showing  how  extreme  it  is. 

Also  the  density  of  Jupiter  and  Saturn  is  found  to 
be  so  small  as  to  be  remarkable  on  that  account ; 
and  we  are  thus  led  to  assimilate  these  planets  rather 
with  the  clouds,  composed  of  water  and  vapor, 
which  sail  about  the  earth,  than  with  the  solid  earth 
itself. 

The  only  stars  of  which  astronomers  can  measure 
the  mass,  are  certain  double  stars ;  and  those  which 
they  have  hitherto  measured,  have  been  found  to  be 
considerably  less  in  mass  than  the  sun  :  so  that  we  find 
as  yet  nothing  which  points  distinctly  to  the  existence 
of  many  bodies  co-ordinate  with  the  sun. 

The  only  fact  in  modern  astronomical  research 
which  does  point  that  way,  is  the  amount  of  absolute 
light  ascribed  to  some  of  the  fixed  stars.  It  has  been 
calculated  that  the  light  sent  to  us  by  the  sun  is  20,000 
million  times  as  great  as  that  sent  by  Alpha  Cen- 
tauri.^'  Now  the  parallax  of  Alpha  Gentauri  has  been 
determined-)-  to  be  nearly  one  second ;  which  makes  its 
distance  200  thousand  times  as  great  as  the  sun ;  and 
since  the  illuminating  power  is  inversely  as  the  square 
of  the  distance,  the  illuminating  power  of  the  sun  at 
that  distance,  compared  with  that  of  the  star,  would 
be  as  the  former  number  divided  by  the  square  of  the 
latter  number;  that  is,  as  one  half  nearly.     The  calcu- 

*  Herscliel,  Outlines  of  Astron.,  SIT.  f  Herscliel,  807. 


XU  .  PEEFACE     TO   THE 

lation  is  of  a  very  insecure  character;  but  Sir  John 
Herscliel  thinks  that,  after  all  allowances  are  made  on 
this  ground,  it  is  certain  that  Alpha  Centauri  emits 
more  light  than  the  sun.  He  adds  that  the  light  of 
Sirius  is  four  times  as  great  as  that  of  Alpha  Centauri, 
and  the  parallax  of  Sirius  much  less ;  so  that  that 
star  would  have,  by  such  a  calculation,  an  intrinsic 
splendor  63  times  that  of  the  sun.  But  such  calcu- 
lations are,  as  I  have  said,  very  insecure.  There 
are  estimates,  on  high  authority,  very  different  from 
these.  According  to  Wollaston,  the  light  of  Sirius 
is  one  20,000  millionth  of  the  sun's,  instead  of  being 
four  times  as  great  as  this,  which  the  above  calculation 
supposes.  According  to  Steinheil,  the  light  of  the  sun 
is  10  milhon  million  times  as  great  as  that  of  Arc- 
turus;  and  therefore  if  Sirius  be  ten  times  as  bright 
as  Arcturus,  he  is  still  only  one  millionth  of  a  mill- 
ionth as  bright  as  the  sun ;  only  one  200th  of  the 
former  estimate.  This  would  turn  the  force  of  the 
argument  the  other  way. 

A  speculation  which  has  attracted  a  good  deal  of 
attention  in  modern  times,  and  which  is  far  more 
closely  connected  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Plurality 
of  Worlds  than  with  its  opposite,  is  what  has  been 
called  the  Nebular  Hypothesis.  According  to  this 
hypothesis,  JSTebulse  are  planetary  systems  in  the 
course  of  formation :  Kebulse  are  composed  of  lumi- 
nous incandescent  vaporous  matter ;  this  matter  cool- 
ing and  contracting,  forms  suns,  with  planets  and  sat- 
ellites revolving  round  them ;  and  these,  by  some 
operation  of  natural  laws,  become  seats  of  vegetable 


SECOKD     EDITION.  XIU 

and  animal  life.  And  tTius,  Nebulse,  Stars  with  their 
Planets,  and  Inhabited  Worlds,  are  all  different  stages 
of  an  universal  progression  ;  and  every  star  and  every 
planet  is  at  the  present  time  at  some  stage  of  this 
progression.  This  hypothesis  appears  to  me  in  the 
highest  degree  arbitrary  and  extravagant,  on  physical,' 
as  well  as  other  groimds  ;  but  as  I  have  said,  the  Plu- 
rality of  "Worlds  falls  in  with  it :  which  the  doctrine 
of  the  Earth,  as  the  only  inhabited  world,  does  not. 

The  ISTebular  Hypothesis  supposes  that  there  are  at 
present  going  on,  in  remote  regions  of  the  universe, 
a  series  of  changes  in  stellar  bodies  ;  of  which  changes 
we  have  no  proof  whatever.  But  that  a  series  of 
changes,  multiplied,  long  continued,  and  previously 
unguessed,  have  taken  place  in  the  condition  of  that 
terrestrial  body  which  we  inhabit,  the  recent  researches 
of  Greology  give  us  indubitable  proof.  All  the  changes 
which  have  taken  place  in  the  Earth,  appear  to  have 
been  a  progress  towards  the  Human  Period,  and  a 
convergence  to  it  through  all  time.  This  view  sug- 
gests the  conjecture  that  the  condition  of  the  Universe 
through  all  space  may  also  have  the  Human  World 
for  its  centre,  in  the  plan  of  Providence. 

This  being  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge, 
as  bearing  upon  the  doctrine  of  the  Plurality  of 
Worlds,  the  time  appeared  to  be  not  inopportune 
for  a  calm  discussion  of  the  question,  which  accord- 
ingly I  have  ventured  upon  in  the  following  pages. 

The  Dialogue  prefixed  to  this  edition  contains  some 
notices  of  objections  which  have  been   made   to   the 


Xiy      PEEFACE    TO    THE    SECOND     EDITION. 

doctrines  of  tlie  Essay,  and  some  additional  develop- 
ment of  tlie  arguments.  I  have  very  unwillingly  been 
led  so  far  into  controversy. 

In  tlie  Preface  to  the  Fii^st  Edition  of  this  Essay, 
I  stated  that  I  should  regret  if  the  discussion  of  the 
subject  should  trouble  any  current  of  pious  contem- 
plation belonging  to  the  time.  And  I  begged  those 
who  felt  such  trouble  to  call  to  mind  the  trains  of 
pious  contemplation  which  belong  to  the  opposite 
side.  It  may  be  an  awful  thought  for  a  man  to  find 
himself,  so  far  as  science  teaches,  left  in  the  universe 
alone  with  God ;  but  it  does  not  appear  how  any  sup- 
position of  a  population  belonging  to  other  planets  and 
other  suns  can  make  this  thought  less  awful.  Those 
on  whose  minds  it  strikes  as  a  novel  conviction,  may 
be  reminded  that  if  Astronomy  fails  to  find  man  com- 
panions and  helpers,  Eeligion  teaches  him  that  he  is 
not  alone,  and  not  unaided ; — not  without  fellow-ser- 
vants in  the  world  of  spirits,  and  not  without  assist- 
ance in  his  highest  aspirations. 


CONTENTS 


OF 


THE  PLUEALITY  OF  WORLDS. 


PAGE 

iNTRODdCTIOIsr 9 


CHAPTEK  I. 
Astronomical  Discoveries It 

OHAPTEE  II. 
Astronomical  Objection  to  Religion. '  .    .    33 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Answer  from  the  Microscope.     ..........    41 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Further  Statement  of  the  Difficulty. 49 

CHAPTER  V. 

aEOLOGT. '      "JS 


Vin  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   YI. 

PAGE 

The  Argument  feom  Geology. 98 


CHArTER  YII. 
The  ]SrEBUL.E. ,,..         ..  135 

CHAPTER   YIII. 
The  Fixed  Stars. 163 

CHAPTER   IX. 
The  Planets 192 

CHAPTER   X. 
Theory  of  the  Solar  System 219 

CHAPTER   XL 
The  Argument  from  Design .    .    .    .  236 

CHAPTER   XII. 
The  Unity  of  the  "World 215 

CHAPTER  XHI. 
The  Future 29S 

Slti'lementary  Dialogue, 309 


INTEODUCTORY    l^OTICE 


TO     THE 


AMEEICAN     EDITIOlSr 


It  is  an  interesting  feature  in  tlie  literature  of  our  day,  that 
so  many  minds  are  turning  their  attention  to  the  bearings  of 
science  upon  religion.  With  a  few  honorable  exceptions, 
Christian  scholars  have  regarded  this  as  a  most  unpromising 
field,  which  they  have  left  to  the  tilting  and  gladiatorship  of 
scepticism.  But  we  owe  it  mainly  to  the  disclosures  of  geolo- 
gy, that  the  tables  are  beginning  to  be  turned.  For  a  long 
time  suspected  of  being  in  league  with  infidelity,  it  was  treated 
as  an  enemy,  and  Christians  thought  only  of  fortifying  them- 
selves against  its  attacks.  But  they  are  finding  out,  that  if 
this  science  has  been  seen  in  the  enemy's  camp,  it  was  only 
because  of  their  jealousy  that  it  was  compelled  to  remain 
there ;  like  captives  that  are  sometimes  pushed  forwards  to 
cover  the  front  rank  and  receive  the  fire  of  their  friends. 
Judging  from  the  number  of  works,  some  of  them  very  able, 

that  appear  almost  monthly  from  the  press,  in  which  illustra^ 

1# 


X  INTRODUCTORY     NOTICE. 

tions  of  religion  are  drawn  from  geology,  we  may  infer  that 
this  science  is  beginning  to  be  recognized  by  the  friends  of  re- 
ligion as  an  efficient  auxiliary. 

"  The  Plurality  of  Worlds,"  now  republished,  is  the  most 
recent  work  of  this  description  that  has  fallen  under  our 
notice.  We  can  see  no  reason  why  an  Essay  of  so  much 
ability,  in  which  the  reasoning  is  so  dispassionate,  and  oppo- 
nents are  treated  so  candidly,  should  appear  anonymously. 
True,  the  author  takes  ground  against  some  opinions  widely 
maintained  respecting  the  extent  of  the  inhabited  universe, 
and  seems  to  suppose  that  he  shall  meet  with  little  sympathy  ; 
and  this  may  be  his  reason,  though  in  our  view  quite  insuf^ 
ficient,  for  remaining  incognito.  We  think  he  will  find  that 
there  are  a  secret  seven  thousand,  who  never  have  bowed  their 
understandings  to  a  belief  of  many  of  the  doctrines  which  he 
combats,  and  he  might  reasonably  calculate  that  his  reasoning 
will  add  seven  thousand  more  to  the  number.  We  confess, 
however,  that  though  we  have  long  been  of  this  number  to 
a  certain  extent,  we  cannot  go  as  far  as  this  writer  has  done 
in  his  conclusions. 

All  the  world  is  acquainted  with  Dr.  Chalmers'  splendid 
Astronomical  Discourses.  Assuming,  or  rather  supposing 
that  he  has  proved,  that  the  universe  contains  a  vast  number 
of  worlds  peopled  like  our  own,  he  imagines  the  infidel  to  raise 
an  objection  to  the  mission  of  the  Son  of  God,  on  the  ground 
that  this  world  is  too  insignificant  to  receive  such  an  extraordi- 


INTRODUCTORY     NOTICE.  XI 

nary  interposition.  His  replies  to  this  objection,  drawn  chiefly 
from  oui  ignorance,  are  ingenious  and  convincing.  But  the 
author  of  the  Plurality  of  Worlds  doubts  the  premises  on 
which  the  objection  is  founded.  He  thinks  the  facts  of  science 
will  not  sustain  the  conclusion  that  many  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  are  inhabited  ;  certainly  not  with  moral  and  intellectual 
beings  like  man.  Nay,  by  making  his  appeal  to  geology,  he 
thinks  the  evidence  strong  against  such  an  opinion.  This 
science  shows  us  that  this  world  was  once  certainly  in  a  molten 
state,  and  very  probably,  at  a  still  earlier  date,  may  have  been 
dissipated  into  self-luminous  vapor,  like  the  nebulae  or  the 
comets.  Immense  periods,  then,  must  have  passed  before  any 
organic  structures,  such  as  have  since  peopled  the  earth,  could 
have  existed.  And  during  the  vast  cycles  that  have  elapsed 
since  the  first  animals  and  plants  appeared  upon  the  globe,  it 
was  not  in  a  proper  condition  to  have  sustained  any  other  than 
the  inferior  races.  Accordingly,  it  has  been  only  a  few  thou- 
sand years  since  man  appeared. 

Now,  so  far  as  astronomy  has  revealed  the  condition  of  other 
worlds,  almost  all  of  them  appear  to  be  passing  through  those 
preparatory  changes  which  the  earth  underwent  previous  to 
man's  creation.  What  are  the  unresolvable  nebulas  and  most 
of  the  comets  also,  but  intensely  heated  vapor  and  gas  ?  What 
is  the  sun  but  a  molten  globe,  or  perhaps  gaseous  matter  con- 
densed so  as  to  possess  almost  the  density  of  water  1  The 
planets  beyond  Mars,  also,  (excluding  the  asteroids,)  appear  to 


Xll  INTRODUCTORY      NOTICE. 

be  in  a  liquid  condition,  but  not  from  heat,  and  therefore  may 
be  composed  of  water,  or  some  fluid  perhaps  lighter  than  water ; 
or  at  least  be  covered  by  such  fluid.  Moreover,  so  great  is 
their  distance  from  the  sun,  that  his  light  and  heat  could  not 
sustain  organic  bemgs  such  as  exist  upon  the  earth.  Of  the 
inferior  planets.  Mercury  is  so  near  the  sun  that  it  would  be 
equally  unfit  for  the  residence  of  such  beings.  Mars,  Venus,, 
and  the  Moon,  then,  appear  to  be  the  only  worlds  known  to 
us  capable  of  sustaining  a  population  at  all  analogous  to  that 
upon  earth.  But  of  these,  the  Moon  appears  to  be  merely  a 
mass  of  extinguished  volcanos,  with  neither  water  nor  atmos- 
phere. It  has  proceeded  farther  in  the  process  of  refrigeration 
than  the  earth,  because  it  is  smaller  ;  and  in  its  present  state, 
is  manifestly  unfit  for  the  residence  either  of  rational  or 
irrational  creatures.  So  that  we  are  left  with  only  Mars  and 
Venus  in  the  solar  system  to  which  the  common  arguments  in 
favor  of  other  worlds  being  mhabited,  will  apply. 

But  are  not  the  fixed  stars  the  suns  of  other  systems  1  We 
will  thank  those  who  think  so,  to  read  the  chapter  in  this  work 
that  treats  of  the  fixed  stars,  and  we  presume  they  will  be 
satisfied  that  at  least  many  of  these  bodies  exhibit  characters 
quite  irreconcilable  with  such  an  hypothesis.  And  if  some  are 
not  central  suns,  the  presumption  that  the  rest  are,  is  weakened, 
and  we  must  wait  till  a  greater  perfection  of  instruments  shall 
afford  us  some  positive  evidence,  before  we  know  whether  our 
solar  system  is  a  type  of  any  others. 


INTRODUCTORY      NOTICE.  Xlll 

Thus  far,  it  seems  to  us,  our  author  has  firm  ground,  both 
geological  and  astronomical,  to  stand  upon.  But  he  does  not 
stop  here.  He  takes  the  position  that  probably  our  earth  may- 
be the  only  body  in  the  solar  system,  nay  in  the  universe, 
where  an  intellectual,  moral  and  immortal  being,  like  man,  has 
an  existence.  He  makes  the  "  earth  the  domestic  hearth  of 
the  solar  system  ;  adjusted  between  the  hot  and  fiery  haze  on 
one  side,  and  the  cold  and  watery  vapor  on  the  other  :  the  only 
fit  region  to  be  a  domestic  hearth,  a  seat  of  habitation."  He 
says  that  "  it  is  quite  agreeable  to  analogy  that  the  solar  sys- 
tem should  have  borne  but  one  fertile  flower.  And  even  if 
any  number  of  the  fixed  stars  were  also  found  to  be  barren 
flowers  of  the  sky,  we  need  not  think  the  powers  of  creation 
wasted,  or  frustrated,  thrown  away,  or  perverted."  He  does 
not  deny  that  some  other  worlds  may  be  the  abodes  of  plants 
and  animals  such  as  peopled  this  earth  during  the  long  ages  of 
preadamic  history.  But  he  regards  the  creation  of  man  as  the 
great  event  of  our  world.  He  looks  upon  the  space  between 
man  and  the  highest  of  the  irrational  creatures,  as  a  vast  one  : 
for  though  in  physical  structure  they  approach  one  another,  in 
intellectual  and  moral  powers  they  cannot  be  compared.  He 
does  not  think  it  derogatory  to  Divine  Wisdom  to  have 
created  and  arranged  all  the  other  bodies  of  the  universe  to 
give  convenience  and  elegance  to  the  abode  of  such  a  being  ; 
especially  since  this  was  to  be  the  theatre  of  the  work  of  re- 
demption. 


Xll  INTRODUCTORY      NOTICE. 

be  in  a  liquid  condition,  but  not  from  heat,  and  therefore  may 
be  composed  of  water,  or  some  fluid  perhaps  lighter  than  water ; 
or  at  least  be  covered  by  such  fluid.  Moreover,  so  great  is 
their  distance  from  the  sun,  that  his  light  and  heat  could  not 
sustain  organic  beings  such  as  exist  upon  the  earth.  Of  the 
inferior  planets.  Mercury  is  so  near  the  sun  that  it  would  be 
equally  unfit  for  the  residence  of  such  beings.  Mars,  Venus,, 
and  the  Moon,  then,  appear  to  be  the  only  worlds  known  to 
us  capable  of  sustaining  a  population  at  all  analogous  to  that 
upon  earth.  But  of  these,  the  Moon  appears  to  be  merely  a 
mass  of  extinguished  volcanos,  with  neither  water  nor  atmos- 
phere. It  has  proceeded  farther  in  the  process  of  refrigeration 
than  the  earth,  because  it  is  smaller ;  and  in  its  present  state, 
is  manifestly  unfit  for  the  residence  either  of  rational  or 
irrational  creatures.  So  that  we  are  left  with  only  Mars  and 
Venus  in  the  solar  system  to  which  the  common  arguments  in 
favor  of  other  worlds  being  inhabited,  will  apply. 

But  are  not  the  fixed  stars  the  suns  of  other  systems  1  We 
will  thank  those  who  think  so,  to  read  the  chapter  in  this  work 
that  treats  of  the  fixed  stars,  and  we  presume  they  will  be 
satisfied  that  at  least  many  of  these  bodies  exhibit  characters 
quite  irreconcilable  with  such  an  hypothesis.  And  if  some  are 
not  central  suns,  the  presumption  that  the  rest  are,  is  weakened, 
and  we  must  wait  till  a  greater  perfection  of  instruments  shall 
afford  us  some  positive  evidence,  before  we  know  whether  our 
solar  system  is  a  type  of  any  others. 


INTRODUCTORY     NOTICE.  XIU 

Thus  far,  it  seems  to  us,  our  author  has  firm  ground,  both 
geological  and  astronomical,  to  stand  upon.  But  he  does  not 
stop  here.  He  takes  the  position  that  probably  our  earth  may- 
be the  only  body  in  the  solar  system,  nay  in  the  universe, 
where  an  intellectual,  moral  and  immortal  being,  like  man,  has 
an  existence.  He  makes  the  "  earth  the  domestic  hearth  of 
the  solar  system  ;  adjusted  between  the  hot  and  fiery  haze  on 
one  side,  and  the  cold  and  watery  vapor  on  the  other  :  the  only 
fit  region  to  be  a  domestic  hearth,  a  seat  of  habitation."  He 
says  that  "  it  is  quite  agreeable  to  analogy  that  the  solar  sys- 
tem should  have  borne  but  one  fertile  flower.  And  even  if 
any  number  of  the  fixed  stars  were  also  found  to  be  barren 
flowers  of  the  sky,  we  need  not  think  the  powers  of  creation 
wasted,  or  frustrated,  thrown  away,  or  perverted."  He  does 
not  deny  that  some  other  worlds  may  be  the  abodes  of  plants 
and  animals  such  as  peopled  this  earth  during  the  long  ages  of 
preadamic  history.  But  he  regards  the  creation  of  man  as  the 
great  event  of  our  world.  He  looks  upon  the  space  between 
man  and  the  highest  of  the  irrational  creatures,  as  a  vast  one  : 
for  though  in  physical  structure  they  approach  one  another,  in 
intellectual  and  moral  powers  they  cannot  be  compared.  He 
does  not  think  it  derogatory  to  Divine  Wisdom  to  have 
created  and  arranged  all  the  other  bodies  of  the  universe  to 
give  convenience  and  elegance  to  the  abode  of  such  a  being ; 
especially  since  this  was  to  be  the  theatre  of  the  work  of  re- 
demption. 


XIV  INTRODUCTORY      NOTICE. 

Now  we  sympathize  strongly  in  views  that  give  dignity  and 
exaltation  to  man,  and  not  at  all  with  that  debasing  philosophy, 
so  common  at  this  day,  that  looks  upon  him  as  little  more  than 
a  somewhat  improved  orang.  But  we  cannot  admit  that  man 
is  the  only  exalted  created  being  to  be  found  among  the  vast 
array  of  worlds  around  us.  Geology  does,  indeed,  teach  us,  that 
it  is  no  disparagement  of  Divine  Wisdom  and  benevolence  to 
make  a  world — and  if  one,  why  not  many — the  residence  of 
inferior  creatures  ;  nay  to  leave  it  without  inhabitants  through 
untold  ages.  But  it  also  shows  us,  that  when  such  worlds  have 
passed  through  these  preparatory  changes,  rational  and  im- 
mortal beings  may  be  placed  upon  them.  Nay,  does  not  the 
history  of  our  world  show  us  that  this  seems  to  be  the  grand 
object  of  such  vast  periods  of  preparation.  And  is  it  not  in- 
credible, that  amid  the  countless  bodies  of  the  universe,  a 
single  globe  only,  and  that  a  small  one,  should  have  reached 
the  condition  adapted  to  the  residence  of  beings  made  in  the 
image  of  God  '?  Of  what  possible  use  to  man  are  those  num- 
berless worlds  visible  oMy  through  the  most  powerful  tele- 
scopes ?  Surely  such  a  view  gives  us  a  very  narrow  idea  of 
the  plans  and  purposes  of  Jehovah,  and  one  not  sustained  in 
our  opinion  by  the  analogies  of  science. 

There  is  another  principle  to  which  our  author  attaches,  as 
we  think,  too  little  importance  in  this  connection.  When  we 
see  how  vast  is  the  variety  of  organic  beings  on  this  globe,  and 
how  manifold  the  conditions  of  their  existence ;  how  exactly 


INTRODUCTORY      NOTICE.  XV 

adapted  they  are  to  the  solid,  the  liquid,  and  the  gaseous  states 
of  matter,  can  we  doubt  that  rational  and  intelligent  beings 
may  be  adapted  to  physical  conditions  in  other  worlds  widely 
diverse  from  those  on  this  globe  1  May  not  spirits  be  connect- 
ed with  bodies  much  heavier,  or  much  lighter,  than  on  earth  ; 
nay,  with  mere  tenuous  ether ;  and  those  bodies,  perhaps,  be 
better  adapted  to  the  play  of  intellect  than  ours  ;  and  be  un- 
affected by  temperatures  which,  on  earth,  would  be  fatal  1  It 
does  seem  to  us  that  such  conclusions  are  legitimate  inferences 
from  the  facts  of  science ;  and  if  so,  we  can  hardly  avoid  the 
conclusion  that  there  may  be  races  of  intelligent  beings  upon 
other  worlds  where  the  condition  of  things  is  widely  different 
from  that  on  earth.  Yet  there  is  a  limit  to  this  principle ; 
and  when  we  can  prove  another  world  to  be  in  a  similar  con- 
dition to  our  earth,  when  it  was  inhabited  by  preadamic  races, 
or  not  at  all  inhabited,  the  presumption  is  strong,  that  such  a 
world  has  inhabitants  of  a  like  character,  or  none  at  all. 

Our  author  makes  but  a  slight  allusion  to  some  most  im- 
portant statements  of  revelation,  that  seem  to  us  to  bear 
strongly  upon  the  hypothesis  which  he  adopts.  We  refer  to 
the  existence  of  angels,  holy  and  unholy.  In  the  history  of  the 
latter,  we  learn  that  they  kept  not  their  first  estate^  hut  left  their 
own  habitation.  Have  we  not  here  an  example  of  other  ra- 
tional creatures,  more  exalted  than  man,  who,  like  him,  have 
fallen  from  their  first  estate ;  and  does  not  the  presumption 
hence  arise,  that   there  may  be  similar  examples   in  other 


XVI  INTRODUCTORY     NOTICE. 

worlds  ?  And  is  there  not  a  probability,  that  holy  angels  now 
in  heaven,  may  be  rational  intelligencies  who  have  passed  a 
successful  probation  in  other  worlds  1  It  does  seem  to  us,  that 
these  biblical  facts  make  the  hypothesis  of  our  author  respect- 
ing man  extremely  improbable. 

But  though  we  must  demur  as  to  some  of  the  views  of  this 
work,  we  can  cordially  recommend  its  perusal  to  intelligent 
and  reasoning  minds.  It  is  an  effort  in  the  right  direction,  and 
we  think  will  do  much  to  correct  some  false  notions  respect- 
ing the  Plurality  of  Worlds.  And  even  the  author's  peculiar 
hypothetical  views  are  sustained  with  much  ability.  He  states 
the  facts  of  geology  and  astronomy  with  great  clearness  and 
correctness,  and  seems  c[uite  familiar  with  mathematical  reason- 
ing. Nor  does  he  advance  opinions  that  come  into  collision 
with  natural  or  revealed  religion ;  though,  as  already  stated,  we 
think  his  favorite  notions  narrow  our  conceptions  of  the  Divine 
plans  and  purposes.  We  predict  for  the  work  an  extended 
circulation  among  scientific  men  and  theologians ;  and  com- 
mend it  with  confidence  to  all  readers — and  in  our  country 
they  are  numerous — who  are  fond  of  tracing  out  the  connection 
between  science  and  religion.  E.  H. 

Amherst  College,  April,  1854. 


I 


THE 


PLURALITY    OF    WORLDS 


CHAPTER  I. 

ASTEONOMICAL  DISCOYERIES. 

"  When  I  consider  the  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers,  the 
moon  and  the  stars,  which  thou  hast  ordained;  What  is 
man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him  ?  and  the  son  of  man,  that 
thou  visitest  him  f 

1.  These  striking  words  of  the  Hebrew  Psalmist  have 
been  made,  by  an  eloquent  and  pious  writer  of  our  own  time, 
the  starting  point  of  a  remarkable  train  of  speculation.  Dr. 
Chalmers,  in  his  Astronomical  Discourses^  has  treated  the  re- 
flection thus  suggested,  in  connection  with  such  an  aspect  of 
the  heavens  and  the  stars,  the  earth  and  the  universe,  as 
m.odern  astronomy  presents  to  us.  Even  from  the  point  of 
view  in  which  the  ancient  Hebrew  looked  at  the  stars  ;  seeing 
only  their  number  and  splendor,  their  lofty  position,  and  the 
vast  space  which  they  visibly  occupy  in  the  sky ;  compared 
with  the  earth,  which  lies  dark,  and  mean,  and  perhaps 
small  in  extent,  far  beneath  them,  and  on  which  man  has  his 


18  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

habitation ;  it  appeared  wonderful,  and  scarcely  credible,  that 
the  maker  of  all  that  array  of  luminaries,  the  lord  of  that 
wide  and  magnificent  domain,  should  occupy  himself  with  the 
concerns  of  men :  and  yet,  without  a  belief  in  His  fatherly 
care  and  goodness  to  us,  thoughtful  and  religious  persons, 
accustomed  to  turn  their  minds  constantly  to  a  Supreme 
Governor  and  constant  Benefactor,  are  left  in  a  desolate  and 
bewildered  state  of  feeling.  The  notion  that  while  the 
heavens  are  the  work  of  God's  fiugers,  the  sun,  moon,  and 
stars  ordained  by  him.  He  is  not  mindful  of  man,  does  not 
regard  him,  does  not  visit  him,  was  not  tolerable  to  the 
thought  of  the  Psalmist.  While  we  read,  we  are  sure  that 
he  believed  that,  however  insignificant  and  mean  man  might 
be,  in  comparison  with  the  other  works  of  God, — however 
difficult  it  might  seem  to  conceive,  that  he  should  be  found 
worthy  the  regards  and  the  visits  of  the  Creator  of  All, — yet 
that  God  was  mindful  of  him,  and  did  visit  him.  The  ques- 
tion, "  What  is  man,  that  this  is  so  V  implies  that  there  is  an 
answer,  whether  man  can  discover  it  or  not.  "  What  is  man, 
that  God  is  mindful  of  him  V  indicates  a  belief,  unshaken, 
however  much  perplexed,  that  man  is  something^  of  such  a 
kind  that  God  is  mindful  of  him. 

2.  But  if  there  was  room  for  this  questioning,  and  cause 
for  this  perplexity,  to  a  contemplative  person,  who  looked  at 
the  skies,  with  that  belief  concerning  the  stars,  which  the 
ancient  Hebrew  possessed,  the  question  recurs  with  far 
greater  force,  and  the  perplexity  is  immeasurably  increased, 
by  the  knowledge,  concerning  the  stars,  which  is  given  to  us 
by  the  discoveries  of  modern  astronomy.  The  Jew  probably 
believed  the  earth  to  be  a  region,  upon  the  whole,  level,  how- 
ever diversified  with  hills  and  valleys,  and  the  skies  to  be  a 
vault    arched  over    this    level ; — a  firmament  in  which   the 


ASTRONOMICAL     DISCOVERIES.  19 

moon  and  the  stars  were  placed.  What  magnitude  to  assign 
to  this  vault,  he  had  no  means  of  knowing ;  and  indeed,  the 
very  aspect  of  the  nocturnal  heavens,  with  the  multitude  of 
stars,  of  various  brightness,  which  come  into  view,  one  set 
after  another,  as  the  light  of  day  dies  away,  suggests  rather 
the  notion  of  their  being  scattered  through  a  vast  depth  of 
space,  at  various  distances,  than  of  their  being  so  many 
lights  fastened  to  a  single  vaulted  surface.  But  however  he 
might  judge  of  this,  he  regarded  them  as  placed  in  a  space, 
of  which  the  earth  was  the  central  region.  The  host  of 
heaven  all  had  reference  to  the  earth.  The  sun  and  the 
moon  were  there,  in  order  to  give  light  to  it,  by  day  and  by 
night.  And  if  the  stars  had  not  that  for  their  principal 
office,  as  indeed  the  amount  of  light  which  they  gave  was 
not  such  as  to  encourage  such  a  belief, — and  perhaps  the 
perception,  that  the  stars  must  have  been  created  for  some 
other  object  than  to  give  light  to  man,  was  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal circumstances  which  suggested  the  train  of  thought  that 
we  are  now  considering ; — yet  still,  the  region  of  the  stars 
had  the  earth  for  its  centre  and  base.  Perhaps  the  Psalmist, 
at  a  subsequent  period  of  his  contemplations,  when  he  was 
pondering  the  reflections  which  he  has  expressed  in  this  pas- 
sage, might  have  been  led  to  think  that  the  stars  were 
placed  there  in  order  to  draw  man's  thoughts  to  the  great- 
ness of  the  Creator  of  all  things ;  to  give  some  light  to  his 
mental,  rather  than  to  his  bodily  eye ;  to  show  how  far  His 
mode  of  working  transcends  man's  faculties ;  to  suggest  that 
there  are  things  in  heaven,  very  different  from  the  things 
which  are  on  earth.  If  he  thought  thus,  he  was  only  follow- 
ing a  train  of  thought  on  which  contemplative  minds,  in  all 
ages  and  countries,  have  often  dwelt ;  and  which  we  cannot, 
even  now,  pror  ounce  to  be  either  unfounded  or  exhausted ; 


20  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

as  we  trust  hereafter  to  show.  But  whether  or  not  this  be  so, 
vre  may  be  certain  that  the  Psalmist  regarded  the  stars,  as 
things  having  a  reference  to  the  earth,  and  yet  not  resembling 
the  earth ;  as  works  of  God's  fingers,  very  different  from  the 
earth  with  its  tribes  of  inhabitants ;  as  luminaries,  not  worlds. 
In  the  feeling  of  awe  and  perplexity,  which  made  him  ask, 
"  What  is  man  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him '?"  there  was  no 
mixture  of  a  persuasion  that  there  were,  in  those  luminaries, 
creatures,  like  man,  the  children  and  subjects  of  God ;  and 
therefore,  like  man,  requiring  his  care  and  attention.  In  ask- 
ing, "  What  is  man,  that  thou  visitest  him  f  there  was  no 
latent  comparison,  to  make  the  question  imply,  "that  thou 
visitest  him,  rather  than  those  who  dwell  in  those  abodes  ?" 
It  was  the  multitude  and  magnificence  of  God's  works,  which 
made  it  seem  strange  that  lie  should  care  for  a  thing  so  small 
and  mean  as  man;-  not  the  supposed  multitude  of  God's 
intelligent  creatures  inhabiting  those  works,  which  made  it 
seem  strange  that  he  should  attend  to  every  person  upon  this 
earth.  It  was  not  that  the  Psalmist  thought  that,  among  a 
multitude  of  earths,  all  peopled  like  this  earth,  man  might 
seem  to  be  in  danger  of  being  overlooked  and  neglected  by 
his  Maker  ;  but  that,  there  being  only  one  earth,  occupied  by 
frail,  feeble,  sinful,  short-lived  creatures,  it  might  be  unworthy 
the  regards  of  Him  who  dwelt  in  regions  of  eternal  light  and 
splendor,  unsullied  by  frailty,  inaccessible  to  corruption. 

3.  This,  we  can  have  no  doubt,  or  something  resembling 
this,  was  the  Psalmist's  view,  when  he  made  the  reflection, 
which  we  have  taken  as  the  basis  of  our  remarks.  And  even 
in  this  view,  (which,  after  all  that  science  has  done,  is  perhaps 
still  the  most  natural  and  familiar,)  the  reflection  is  extremely 
striking ;  and  the  words  cannot  be  uttered  without  finding  an 
echo  in  the  breast  of  every  contemplative  and  religious  per- 


ASTRONOMICAL     DISCOVERIES.  21 

son.  But  this  view  is,  as  most  readers  at  this  time  are 
aware,  very  different  from  that  presented  to  us  by  Modern 
Astronomy.  The  discoveries  made  by  astronomers  are  sup. 
posed  by  most  persons  to  have  proved,  or  to  have  made  it  in 
the  highest  degree  probable,  that  this  view  of  the  earth,  as 
the  sole  habitation  of  intelligent  subjects  of  God's  govern- 
ment ;  and  of  the  stars,  as  placed  in  a  region  of  which  the 
earth  is  the  centre,  and  yet  differing  in  their  nature  from  this 
lower  world  ;  is  altogether  erroneous.  According  to  astrono- 
mers, the  earth  is  not  a  level  space,  but  a  globe.  Some  of 
the  stars  which  we  see  in  the  vault  of  heaven,  are  globes,  like 
it ;  some  smaller  than  the  earth,  some  larger.  There  are 
reasons,  drawn  from  analogy,  for  believing  that  these  globes, 
the  other  planets,  are  inhabited  by  living  creatures,  as  the 
earth  is.  The  earth  is  not  at  rest,  with  the  celestial  lumina- 
ries circulating  above  it,  as  the  ancients  believed,  but  itself 
moves  in  a  circle  about  the  sun,  in  the  course  of  every  year ; 
and  the  other  planets  also  move  round  the  sun  in  like  manner, 
in  circles,  some  within  and  some  without  that  which  the  earth 
describes.  This  collection  of  planets,  thus  circulating  about 
the  sun,  is  the  Solar  System  :  of  which  the  earth  thus  forms 
a  very  small  part.  Jupiter  and  Saturn  are  much  larger  than 
the  earth.  Mars  and  Venus  are  nearly  as  large.  If  these 
be  inhabited,  as  the  Earth  is,  which  the  analogy  of  their  form, 
movements  and  conditions,  seems  to  suggest,  the  population 
of  the  earth  is  a  very  small  portion  of  the  population  of  the 
solar  system.  And  if  the  mere  number  of  the  subjects  of 
God's  government  could  produce  any  difficulty  in  the  applica- 
tion of  his  providence  to  them,  a  person  to  whom  this  view 
of  the  world  which  we  inhabit  had  been  disclosed,  might  well, 
and  with  far  more  reason  than  the  Psalmist,  exclaim,  "  Lord, 


22  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

what  is  man,  that  thou  arf,  mindful  of  him  1  the  inhabitants  of 
this  Earth,  that  thou  regardest  him  ?" 

4.  But  this  is  only  the  first  step  in  the  asserted  revelations 
of  astronomy.  Some  of  the  stars  are,  as  we  have  said, 
planets  of  the  kind  just  described.  But  these  stars  are  a  few 
only  : — five,  or  at  most  six,  of  those  visible  to  the  unassisted 
eye  of  man.  All  the  rest,  innumerable  as  they  appear,  and 
numerous  as  they  really  are,  are,  it  is  found,  objects  of  an- 
other Idnd.  They  are  not,  as  the  planets  are,  opaque  globes, 
deriving  their  light  from  a  sun,  about  which  they  circulate. 
They  shine  by  a  light  of  their  own.  They  are  of  the  nature 
of  the  sun,  not  of  the  planets.  That  they  appear  mere  specks 
of  light,  arises  from  their  being  at  a  vast  distance  from  us. 
At  a  vast  distance  they  midoubtedly  are ;  for  even  with  our 
most  powerful  telescopes,  they  still  appear  mere  specks  of 
light ; — mere  luminous  points.  They  do  not,  as  the  planets 
do,  when  seen  through  telescopes,  exhibit  to  us  a  circular  face 
or  disk,  capable  of  being  magnified  and  distinguished  into 
parts  and  features.  But  this  impossibility  of  magnifying 
them  by  means  of  telescopes,  does  not  at  all  make  us  doubt 
that  they  naay  be  far  larger  than  the  planets.  For  we  know, 
from  other  sources  of  information,  that  their  distance  is  im- 
mensely greater  than  that  of  any  of  the  planets.  We  can 
measure  the  bodies  of  the  solar  system ; — the  earth,  by  abso- 
lutely going  round  a  part  of  it,  or  in  other  ways ;  the  other 
bodies  of  the  system,  by  comparing  their  positions,  as  seen 
from  different  parts  of  the  earth.  In  this  manner  we  find  that 
the  earth  is  a  globe  8,000  miles  in  diameter.  In  this  way,  again, 
we  find  that  the  circle  which  the  earth  describes  round  the 
sun  has,  in  round  numbers,  a  radius  about  24.000  times  the 
earth's  radius ;  that  is,  nearly  a  hundred  millions  of  miles. 
The  earth  is,  a*  one  time,  a  hundred  millions  of  miles  on  one 


ASTRONOMICAL     DISCOVERIES.  23 

side  of  the  sun;  and  at  another  time,  half  a  year  afterwards, 
a  hundred  millions  of  miles  on  the  other  side.  Of  the  bright 
stars  which  shine  by  their  own  light, — the  fixed  stars^  as  we 
call  them,  (to  distinguish  them  from  the  planets,  the  wander- 
ing stars,) — if  any  one  were  at  any  moderate  distance  from 
us,  we  should  see  it  change  its  apparent  place  with  regard  to 
the  others,  in  consequence  of  our  thus  changing  our  point  of 
view  two  hundred  millions  of  miles :  just  as  a  distant  .spire 
changes  its  apparent  place  with  regard  to  the  more  distant 
mountain,  when  we  move  froin  one  window  of  our  house  to 
the  other.  But  no  such  change  of  place  is  discernible  in  any 
of  the  fixed  stars :  or  at  least,  if  we  believe  the  most  recent 
asserted  discoveries  of  astronomers,  the  change  is  so  small  as 
to  imply  a  distance  in  the  star,  of  more  than  two  hundred 
thousand  times  the  radius  of  the  earth's  orbit,  which  is,  itself^ 
as  we  have  said,  one  hundred  millions  of  miles.*  This  dis- 
tance is  so  vastly  great,  that  we  can  very  well  believe  that  the 
fixed  stars,  though  to  our  best  telescopes  they  appear  only  as 
points  of  light,  are  really  as  large  as  our  sun,  and  would  give 
as  much  light  as  he  does,  if  we  could  approach  as  near  to 
them.  For  since  they  are  thus,  the  nearest  of  them,  two 
hundred  thousand  times  as  far  off  as  he  is,  even  if  we  could 
magnify  them  a  thousand  times,  which  we  can  hardly  do,  they 
would  still  be  only  one  two-hundredth  of  the  breadth  of  the 
sun  ;  and  thus,  still  a  mere  point. 

*  It  is  quite  to  our  purpose  to  recollect  the  impression  which  such 
discoveries  naturally  make  upon  a  pious  mind. 

Oh !  rack  me  not  to  such  extent, 

These  distances  belong  to  Thee  ; 
The  world's  too  little  for  Thy  tent, 

A  grave  too  big  for  me  ! 

Geoege  Herbert. 


24  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

5.  But  if  eacli  fixed  star  be  of  the  nature  of  the  sun,  and 
not  smaller  than  the  sun,  does  not  analogy  lead  us  to  suppose 
that  they  have,  some  of  them  at  least,  planets  circulating  about 
them,  as  our  sun  has  ?  If  the  Sun  is  the  centre  of  the  Solar 
System,  why  should  not  Sirius,  (one  of  the  brightest  of  the 
fixed  stars,)  be  the  centre  of  the  Sirian  System  ?  And  why 
should  not  that  system  have  as  many  planets,  with  the  same 
resem^blances  and  differences  of  the  figure,  movements,  and 
conditions  of  the  different  planets,  as  this*?  Why  should  not 
the  Sirian  System  be  as  great  and  as  varied  as  the  solar  sys- 
tem 1  And  this  being  granted,  why  should  not  these  planets 
be  inhabited,  as  men  have  inferred  the  other  planets  of  the 
solar  system,  as  well  as  the  earth,  to  be  1  And  thus  we  have, 
added  to  the  population  of  the  universe  of  which  we  have 
already  spoken,  a  number  (so  far  as  we  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve) not  inferior  to  the  number  of  inhabitants  of  the  solar 
system  :  this  number  being,  according  to  all  the  analogies, 
very  many  fold  that  of  the  population  of  the  whoie  earth  1 

And  this  is  the  conclusion,  when  we  reason  from  one  star 
only,  from  Sirius.  But  the  argument  is  the  same,  from  each 
of  the  stars.  For  we  have  no  reason  to  think  that  Sirius, 
though  one  of  the  brightest,  is  more  like  our  sun  than  any  of 
the  others  is.  The  others  appear  less  bright  in  various  de- 
grees, probably  because  they  are  further  removed  from  us  in 
various  degrees.  They  may  not  be  all  of  the  same  size  and 
brightness ;  it  is  very  unlikely  that  they  are.  But  they  may 
as  easily  be  larger  than  the  sun,  as  smaller.  Tlie  natural  as- 
sumption for  us  to  make,  having  no  ground  for  any  other 
opinion,  is,  that  they  are,  upon  the  average,  of  the  size  of  our 
sun.  On  that  assumption,  we  have  as  many  solar  systems  as 
we  have  fixed  stars ;  and,  it  may  be,  six  or  ten,  or  twenty 
times  as  many  inhabited  globes ;  inhabited  by  creatures  of 


ASTRONOMICAL     DISCOVERIES.  25 

whom  we  must  suppose,  by  analogy,  that  God  is  mindful,  if 
he  is  mindful  of  us.,  The  question  recurs  with  overwhelming 
force,  if  we  still  follow  the  same  train  of  reflection :  "  What 
is  man,  that  God  is  mindful  of  him  f 

6.  But  we  have  not  yet  exhausted  the  views  which  thus  add 
to  the  force  of  this  reflection.  The  fixed  stars,  which  appear 
to  the  eye  so  numerous,  so  innumerable,  in  the  clear  sky  on  a 
moonless  night,  are  not  really  so  numerous  as  they  seem.  To 
the  naked  eye,  there  are  not  visible  more  than  four  or  five 
thousand.  The  astronomers  of  Greece,  and  of  other  countries, 
even  in  ancient  times,  counted  them,  mapped  them,  and  gave 
them  names  and  designations.  But  Astronomy,  who  thus 
began  her  career  by  diminishing,  in  some  degree,  the  sup- 
posed numbers  of  the  host  of  heaven,  has  ended  by  im- 
measurably increasing  them.  Tlie  first  application  of  the 
telescope  to  the  skies  discovered  a  vast  number  of  fixed  stars, 
previously  unseen :  and  every  improvement  in  that  instru- 
ment has  disclosed  myriads  of  new  stars,  visibly  smaller  than 
those  which  had  before  been  seen ;  and  smaller  and  smaller, 
as  the  power  of  vision  is  more  and  more  strengthened  by  new 
aids  from  art ;  as  if  the  regions  of  space  contained  an  in- 
exhaustible supply  of  such  objects ;  as  if  infinite  space  were 
strewn  with  stars  in  every  part  of  it  to  which  vision  could 
reach.  The  small  patch  of  the  sky  which  forms,  at  any  mo- 
ment, the  field  of  view  of  one  of  the  great  telescopes  of 
Herschel,  discloses  to  him  as  many  stars,  and  those  of  as 
many  difierent  magnitudes,  as  the  whole  vault  of  the  sky 
exhibits  to  the  naked  eye.  But  the  magnifying  power  of  such 
an  instrument  only  discloses,  it  does  not  make,  these  stars. 
There  appears  to  be  quite  as  much  reason  to  believe,  that 
each  of  these  telescopic  stars  is  a  sun,  surrounded  by  its 
special  family  of  planets,  as  to  believe  that  Si  rius  or  Arcturus 


26  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

is  so.  Here,  then,  we  have  again  an  extension,  indefinite  to 
our  apprehension,  of  the  universe,  as  occupied  by  material 
structures ;  and  if  so,  why  not  by  a  living  population,  such  as 
the  material  structures  which  are  nearest  to  us  support  1 

7.  Even  yet  we  have  not  finished  the  series  of  successive 
views  which  astronomers  have  had  opened  to  them,  extending 
more  and  more  their  spectacle  of  the  fulness  and  largeness  of 
the  universe.     Not  only  does  the  telescope  disclose  myriads 
of  stars,  unseen  to  the  naked  eye,  and  new  myriads  with  each 
increase  of  the  powers  of  the  instrument ;  but  it  discloses  also 
patches  of  light,  which,  at  first  at  least,  do  not  appear  to  con- 
sist of  stars  :  Nehulce^  as  they  are  called  ;  bright  specks,  it 
might  seem,  of  stellar  matter,   thin,  diffused,  and  irregular ; 
not  gathered  into  regular  and  definite  forms,  such  as  we  may 
suppose  the  stars  to  be.      Every  one  who  has  noticed  the 
starry  skies,  may  understand  what  is  the  general  aspect  of 
such  nebulge,  by  looking  at  the  milky  way  or  galaxy,  an  ir- 
regular band  of  nebulous  light,  which  runs  quite  round   the 
sky ;    "  A  circling  zone,   powdered  with  stars ;"    as   ]\Iilton 
calls  it.     But  the  nebulae  of  which  I  more  especially  speak, 
are  minute  patc^hes,  discovered  mainly  by  the  telescope,  and 
in  a  few  instanc'is  only  discernible  by  the  naked  eye.     And 
what  I  have  to  remark  especially  concerning  them  at  present 
is,  that  though  to  visual  powers  which  barely  suffice  to  discern 
them,  they  appear  like  mere  bright  clouds,  patches  of  diffiised 
starry  matter  ;  yet  that,  when  examined  by  visual  powers  of 
a  higher  order,  by  more  penetrating  telescopes,  these  patches 
of  continuous  feeble  light  are,  in  many  instances  at  least,  dis- 
tinguishable into  definite  points  :  they  are  found,  in  fact,  to  be 
aggregations  of  stars  ;  which  before  appeared  as  diffused  light, 
only  because  our  telescopes,  though  strong  enough  to  reveal 
to  our  senses  the  aggregate  mass  of  light  of  the  cluster,  weiv 


ASTRONOMICAL     DISCOVERIES.  27 

not  strong  enough  to  enable  us  to  discern  any  one  of  the  stars 
of  which  the  cluster  3onsists.  The  galaxy,  in  this  way,  may, 
in  almost  every  part,  be  resolved  into  separate  stars ;  and  thus, 
the  multitude  of  the  stars  in  the  region  of  the  sky  occupied  by 
that  winding  stream  of  light,  is,  when  examined  by  a  powerful 
telescope,  inconceivably  numerous, 

8.  The  small  telescopic  nebulae  are  of  various  forms  ;  some 
of  them  may  be  in  the  shape  of  flat  strata,  or  cakes,  as  it 
w^ere,  of  stars,  of  small  thickness,  compared  with  the  extent 
of  the  stratum.  Now,  if  our  sun  were  one  of  the  individuals 
of  such  a  stratum,  we,  looking  at  the  stars  of  the  stratum 
from  his  neighborhood,  should  see  them  very  numerous  and 
close  in  the  direction  of  the  edge  of  the  stratum,  and  com- 
paratively few  and  rare  in  other  parts  of  the  sky.  We  should, 
in  short,  see  a  galaxy  running  round  the  sky,  as  we  see  in 
fact.  And  hence  Sir  William  Herschel  has  inferred,  that 
our  sun,  with  its  attendant  planets,  has  its  place  in  such  a 
stratum ;  and  that  it  thus  belongs  to  a  host  of  stars  which 
are,  in  a  certain  way,  detached  from  the  other  nebulas  which 
we  see.  Perhaps,  he  adds,  some  of  those  other  nebulae  are 
beds  and  masses  of  stars  not  less  numerous  than  those  which 
compose  our  galaxy,  and  which  occupy  a  larger  portion  of 
the  sky,  only  because  we  are  immersed  in  the  interior  of  the 
crowd.  And  thus,  a  minute  speck  of  nebulous  light,  discern- 
ible only  by  a  good  telescope,  may  contain  not  only  as  many 
stars  as  occupy  the  sky  to  ordinary  vision,  but  as  many  as  is 
the  number  into  which  the  most  powerful  telescope  resolves 
the  milky  light  of  the  galaxy.  And  of  such  resolvable 
nebulas  the  number  which  are  discovered  in  the  sky  is  very 
great,  their  forms  being  of  the  most  various  kind ;  so  that 
many  of  them  may  be,  for  aught  we  can  tell,  more  amply 
stocked  with  stars  tha-i  the  galaxy  is.     And  if  all  the  stars,  or 


28  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

a  large  proportion  of  the  stars,  of  the  galaxy,  be  suns  attended 
by  planets,  and  these  planets  peopled  with  living  creatures, 
what  notion  must  we  form  of  the  population  of  the  universe, 
when  we  have  thus  to  reckon  as  many  galaxies  as  there  are 
resolvable  nebulee !  the  stock  of  discoverable  nebulae  being  as 
yet  unexhausted  by  the  powers  of  our  telescopes ;  and  the 
possibility  of  resolving  them  into  stars  being  also  an  opera- 
tion which  has  not  yet  been  pursued  to  its  limit. 

9.  For,  (and  this  is  the  last  step  which  I  shall  mention  in 
this  long  series  of  ascending  steps  of  multitude  apparently  in- 
finite,) it  now  begins  to  be  suspected  that  not  some  nebula 
only,  but  all^  are  resolvable  into  separate  stars.  When  the 
nebulse  were  first  carefully  studied,  it  was  supposed  that  they 
consisted,  as  they  appeared  to  consist,  of  some  diffused  and 
incoherent  matter,  not  of  definite  and  limited  masses.  It  was 
conceived  that  they  were  not  stars,  but  Stellar  Matter  in  the 
course  of  formation  into  stars  ;  and  it  was  conceived,  further, 
that  by  the  gradual  concentration  of  such  matter,  whirling 
round  its  centre  while  it  concentrated,  not  only  stars,  that  is, 
suns,  might  be  formed,  but  also  systems  of  planets,  circling 
round  these  suns  ;  and  thus  this  Nebular  Hypothesis,  as  it  has 
been  termed,  gave  a  kind  of  theory  of  the  origin  and  forma- 
tion of  systems,  such  as  the  solar  system.  But  the  great 
telescope  which  Lord  Rosse  has  constructed,  and  which  is 
much  more  powerful  than  any  optical  instrument  yet  fabri- 
cated, has  been  directed  to  many  of  the  nebulse,  whose  ap- 
pearance had  given  rise  to  this  theory ;  and  the  result  has 
been,  in  a  great  number  of  cases,  that  the  nebulse  are  proved 
to  consist  entirely  of  distinct  stars  ;  and  that  the  diffused 
nebulous  appearance  is  discovered  to  have  been  an  illusion, 
resulting  from  the  accumulated  light  of  a  vast  number  of 
small  stars  n  ear  to  each  other.     In  this  manner,  we  are  led  to 


ASTRONOMICAL  DISCOVERIES.  29 

regard  every  nebula,  not  as  an  imperfectly  formed  star  or 
system,  but  as  a  vast  multitude  of  stars,  and,  for  aught  we  can 
tell,  of  systems ;  for  the  apparent  smallness  and  nearness  of 
these  stars  are,  it  is  thought,  mere  results  of  the  vast  distance 
at  which  they  are  placed  from  us.  And  thus,  perhaps,  all  the 
nebulae  are,  what  some  of  them  seem  certainly  to  be,  so  many 
vast  armies  of  stars,  each  of  which  stars,  we  have  reason  to 
believe,  is  of  the  nature  of  our  sun ;  and  may  have,  and  ac- 
cording to  analogy  has,  an  accompaniment  of  living  creatures, 
such  as  our  sun  has,  certainly  on  the  earth,  probably,  it  is 
thought,  in  the  other  planets. 

10.  It  is  difficult  to  grasp,  in  one  view,  the  effect  of  the 
successive  steps  from  number  to  number,  from  distance  to 
distance,  which  we  have  thus  been  measuring  over.  We  may, 
however,  state  them  again  briefly,  in  the  way  of  enumeration. 

From  our  own  place  on  the  earth,  we  pass,  in  thought,  as 
a  first  step,  to  the  whole  globe  of  the  Earth ;  from  this,  as  a 
second  step,  to  the  Planets,  the  other  globes  which  compose 
the  Solar  System.  A  third  step  capries  us  to  the  Fixed  Stars, 
as  visible  to  the  naked  eye ;  very  numerous  and  immensely 
distant.  The  transition  to  the  Telescopic  Stars  makes  a  fourth 
step ;  and  in  this,  the  number  and  the  space  are  increased, 
almost  beyond  the  power  of  numbers  to  express  how  many 
there  are,  and  at  what  distances.  But  a  fifth  step  : — ^perhaps 
all  this  array  of  stars,  obvious  and  telescopic,  only  make  up 
our  Nebula ;  w^hile  the  universe  is  occupied  by  other  Nebulae 
innumerable,  so  distant  that,  seen  from  them,  our  nebula, 
though  including,  it  may  be,  stars  of  the  20th  magnitude,  which 
may  be  20  times  or  2,000  times  more  remote  tiian  Sirius, 
would  become  a  telescopic  speck,  as  their  nebulae  are  to  us. 

11.  Various  images  and  modes  of  representation  have  been 
employed,  in  order  to  conv^iy  to  the  mind  some  notion  of  the 


30  THE     PLURALITY     OP     WOELDS. 

dimensions  dF  the  scheme  of  the  universe  to  which  we  are  thus 
introduced.  Thus,  we  may  reckon  that  a  cannon-ball,  moving 
with  its  usual  original  velocity  unabated,  would  describe  the 
interval  between  the  sun  and  the  earth  in  about  one  year. 
And  this  being  so,  the  same  missile  would,  from  what  has  been 
said,  occupy  more,  we  know  not  how  much  more,  than  200,- 
000  years  in  going  to  the  nearest  fixed  star :  and  perhaps  a 
thousand  times  as  much,  in  going  to  other  stars  belonging  to 
our  group  ;  and  then  again,  200,000  times  so  much,  or  some 
number  of  the  like  order,  in  going  from  one  group  to  another. 
When  we  have  advanced  a  step  or  two  in  this  mode  of  state- 
ment, the  velocity  of  the  cannon-ball  hardly  perceptibly 
affects  the  magnitude  of  the  numbers  which  we  have  to  use. 

And  the  same  nearly  is  the  case  if  we  have  recourse  to  the 
swiftest  motion  with  which  we  are  acquainted  ;  that  of  Light. 
Light  travels,  it  is  shown  by  indisputable  scientific  reasonings, 
in  about  eight  minutes  from  the  sun  to  the  earth.  Hence  we 
can  easily  calculate  that  it  would  occupy  at  least  three  years 
to  travel  as  far  as  Sirius,  and  probably,  three  thousand  years, 
or  a  much  greater  number,  to  reach  to  the  smallest  stars,  or 
to  come  from  them  to  us.  And  thus,  as  Sir  W.  Herschel 
remarked,  since  light  is  the  only  vehicle  by  which  information 
concerning  these  distant  bodies  is  conveyed  to  us,  we  do,  by 
seeing  them,  receive  information,  not  what  they  are  at  this 
moment,  but  what  they  were,  as  to  visible  condition,  thou- 
sands of  years  ago.  Stars  may  have  been  created  when  man 
was  created,  and  yet  their  light  may  not  have  reached  him.* 

*  This  thought  is,  however,  older.  Young  expresses  it  in  his  Night 
Thoughts,  Night  IX.,  (published  in  1744) : 

How  distant  some  of  these  nocturnal  suns  I 
So  distant  (says  the  sage)  'twere  not  absurd 
To  doubt  if  beams,  set  out  at  nature's  birth, 
Are  yet  pmved  at  this  so  foreign  world. 


ASTRONOMICAL    DISCOVERIES.  31 

Stars  may  have  been  extinguished  thousands  of  years  ago, 
and  yet  may  still  be  visible  to  our  eyes,  by  means  of  the 
light  which  they  emitted  previous  to  their  extinction,  and 
which  has  not  yet  died  away. 

12.  So  vast  then  are  the  distances  at  which  the  different 
bodies  of  the  universe  are  distributed ;  and  yet  so  numerous 
are  those  bodies.  In  the  vastness  of  their  distances,  there  is, 
indeed,  nothing  which  need  disturb  our  minds,  or  which,  after 
a  little  reflection,  is  likely  to  do  so :  for  when  we  have  said 
all  that  can  be  said,  about  the  largeness  of  these  distances,  still 
there  is  no  difficulty  in  finding  room  for  them.  We  nec- 
essarily conceive  Sjpace  as  being  infinite  in  its  extent :  how- 
ever much  space  the  heavenly  bodies  occupy,  there  is  space 
beyond  them ;  if  they  are  not  there,  space  is  there  neverthe- 
less. That  the  stars  and  planets  are  so  far  from  each  other,  is 
an  arrangement  which  prevents  their  disturbing  each  other 
with  their  mutual  attractions,  to  any  destructive  extent ;  and 
is  an  arrangement  which  the  spacious,  the  infinite  universe, 
admits  of,  without  any  difficulty. 

13.  But  we  are  more  especially  concerned  with  the  Num- 
hers  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  So  many  planets  about  our  sun : 
so  many  suns,  each  perhaps  with  its  family  of  planets  :  and 
then,  all  these  suns  making  but  one  group :  and  other  groups 
coming  into  view,  one  after  another,  in  seemingly  endless  suc- 
cession: and  all  these  planets  being  of  the  nature  of  our 
earth,  as  all  these  stars  are  of  the  nature  of  our  sun : — all 
this,  presents  to  us  a  spectacle  of  a  world — of  a  countless  host 
of  worlds — of  which,  when  we  regard  them  as  thus  arranged 
in  planetary  systems,  and  as  having,  according  to  all  proba- 
bility, years  and  seasons,  days  and  nights,  as  we  have,  we  can- 
not but  accept  it  as  at  least  a  likely  suggestion,  that  they  have 
also  inhabitants; — intelligent  beings  who   can  reckon  these 


32  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

days  and  years ;  who  subsist  on  the  fruits  which  the  season 
brings  forth,  and  have  their  daily  and  yearly  occupations,  ac- 
cording to  their  faculties.  When  we  take,  as  our  scheme  of 
the  universe,  such  a  scheme  as  this,  we  may  well  be  over- 
whelmed with  the  number  of  provinces,  besides  that  in  which 
man  dwells,  which  the  empire  of  the  Lord  of  all  includes ; 
and,  recurring  to  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  we  may  say  with 
a  profundity  of  meaning  immeasurably  augmented — "  Lord, 
what  is  man  ?" 

It  was  this  view,  I  conceive,  which  Dr.  Chalmers  had  in  his 
thoughts,  in  pursuing  the  speculations  which  I  have  mentioned, 
in  the  outset  of  this  Essay. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  ASTEONOMIOAL  OBJECTION"  TO  EELIGIOK 

1.  Such  astronomical  views,  then,  as  those  just  stated,  "we 
may  suppose  to  be  those  to  which  Chalmers  had  reference,  in 
the  argument  of  his  Astronomical  Discourses.  These  real  or 
supposed  discoveries  of  astronomers,  or  a  considerable  part 
of  them,  were  the  facts  which  were  present  to  his  mind,  and 
of  which  he  there  discusses  the  bearings  upon  religious  truths. 
This  multiplicity  of  systems  and  worlds,  which  the  telescopic 
scrutiny  of  the  stars  is  assumed  to  have  disclosed,  or  to  have 
made  probable,  is  the  main  feature  in  the  constitution  of  the 
universe,  as  revealed  by  science,  to  which  his  reflections  are 
directed.  Nor  can  we  say  that,  in  fixing  upon  this  view,  he 
has  gone  out  of  his  way,  to  struggle  with  obscure  and  latent 
difficulties,  such  as  the  bulk  of  mankind  know  and  care  little 
about.  Tor  in  reality,  such  views  are  generally  diffused  in 
our  time  and  country,  are  common  to  all  classes  of  readers, 
and  as  we  may  venture  to  express  it,  are  the  popular  views  of 
persons  of  any  degree  of  intellectual  culture,  who  have, 
directly  or  derivatively,  accepted  the  doctrines  of  modern 
science.  Among  such  persons,  expressions  which  imply  that 
the  stars  are  globes  of  luminous  matter,  like  the  sun ;  that 
there  are,  among  them,  systems  of  revolving  bodies,  seats  of 

2* 


34  THE    PLURALITY    OF    WORLDS. 

life  and  of  intelligence;  are  so  frequent  and  familiar,  that 
those  who  so  speak,  do  not  seem  to  be  aware  that,  in  using 
such  expressions,  they  are  making  any  assumption  at  all ;  any 
more  than  they  suppose  themselves  to  be  making  assumptions, 
when  they  speak  of  the  globular  form  of  the  earth,  or  of  its 
motion  round  the  sun,  or  of  its  revolution  on  its  axis.  It  was, 
therefore,  a  suitable  and  laudable  purpose,  for  a  writer  like 
Chalmers,  well  instructed  in  science,  of  large  and  compre- 
hensive views  with  regard  both  to  religion  and  to  philosophy, 
of  deep  and  pervasive  piety,  and  master  of  a  dignified  and 
persuasive  eloquence,  to  employ  himself  in  correcting  any 
erroneous  opinions  and  impressions  respecting  the  bearing 
which  such  scientific  doctrines  have  upon  religious  truth.  It 
was  his  lot  to  labor  among  men  of  great  intellectual  curiosity, 
acuteness,  and  boldness  :  it  was  his  tendency  to  deal  with  new 
views  of  others  on  the  most  various  subjects,  religious,  phi- 
losophical, and  social ;  and,  on  such  subjects,  to  originate  new 
views  of  his  own.  It  fell  especially  within  his  province,  there- 
fore, to  satisfy  the  minds  of  the  public  who  listened  to  him, 
with  regard  to  the  conflict,  if  a  conflict  there  was,  or  seemed 
to  be,  between  new  scientific  doctrines,  and  permanent  relig- 
ious verities.  He  was,  by  his  culture  and  his  powers,  pe- 
culiarly fitted,  and  therefore  peculiarly  called,  to  mediate  be- 
tween the  scientific  and  the  religious  world  of  his  time. 

2.  The  scientific  doctrine  which  he  especially  deals  with,  in 
the  work  to  which  I  refer,  is  the  multiplicity  of  worlds ; — the 
existence  of  many  seats  of  life,  of  enjoyment,  of  intelligence  ; 
and  it  may  be,  as  he  suggests  also,  of  moral  law,  of  transgress- 
ion, of  alienation  from  God,  and  of  the  need,  and  of  the 
means,  of  reconciliation  to  Him ;  or  of  obedience  to  Him 
and  sympathy  with  Him.  That  if  there  be  many  worlds  re- 
sembling our  world  in  other  respects,  they  may  resemble  it  in 


ASTRONOMICAL     OBJECTION     TO    RELIGION.  35 

some  of  these,  is  an  obvious,  and  we  may  say,  an  irresistible 
conjecture,  in  any  speculative  mind  to  which  the  doctrine 
itself  has  been  conveyed.  Nor  can  it  fail  to  be  very  interest- 
ing, to  see  how  such  a  writer  as  I  have  described  deals  with 
such  a  suggestion  ;  how  far  he  accepts  or  inclines  to  accept  it ; 
and  if  so,  what  aspect  such  a  view  leads  him  to  give  to  truths, 
either  belonging  to  Natural  or  to  Revealed  Theology,  which, 
before  the  introduction  of  such  a  view,  were  regarded  as  bear- 
ing only  upon  the  world  of  which  man  is  the  inhabitant. 

3.  The  mode  in  which  Chalmers  treats  this  suggestion,  is  to 
regard  it  as  the  ground  of  an  objection  to  Religion,  either 
Natural  or  Revealed.  He  supposes  an  objector  to  take  his 
stand  upon  the  multiplicity  of  worlds,  assumed  or  granted  as 
true ;  and  to  argue  that,  since  there  are  so  many  worlds  be- 
side this,  all  alike  claiming  the  care,  the  government,  the  good- 
ness, the  interposition,  of  the  Creator,  it  is  in  the  highest 
degree  extravagant  and  absurd,  to  suppose  that  he  has  done, 
for  this  world,  that  which  Religion,  both  Natural  and  Re- 
vealed, represents  him  as  having  done,  and  as  doing.  When 
we  are  told  that  God  has  provided,  and  is  constantly  provid- 
ing, for  the  life,  the  welfare,  the  comfort  of  all  the  living 
things  which  people  this  earth,  we  can,  by  an  effort  of  thought 
and  reflection,  bring  ourselves  to  believe  that  it  is  so.  When 
we  are  further  told  that  He  has  given  a  moral  law  to  man,  the 
intelligent  inhabitant  of  the  earth,  and  governs  him  by  a  moral 
government,  we  are  able,  or  at  least  the  great  bulk  of  thought- 
ful men,  on  due  consideration  of  all  the  bearings  of  the  case, 
are  able,  to  accept  the  conviction,  that  this  also  is  so.  When 
we  are  still  farther  asked  to  believe  that  the  imperfect  sway 
of  this  moral  law  over  man  has  required  to  be  remedied  by  a 
special  interposition  of  the  Governor  of  the  world,  or  by  a 
series  of  special  interpositions,  to  make  the  Law  clear,  and  to 


36  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

remedy  the  effects  of  man's  transgression  of  it ;  this  doctrine 
also, — according  to  the  old  and  unscientific  view,  which  repre- 
sents the  human  race  as,  in  an  especial  manner,  the  summit 
and  crown  of  God's  material  workmanship,  the  end  of  the 
rest  of  creation,  and  the  selected  theatre  of  God's  dealings 
with  transgression  and  with  obedience, — we  can  conceive,  and, 
as  religious  persons  hold,  we  can  find  ample  and  satisfactory- 
evidence  to  believe.  But  if  this  world  be  merely  one  of  in- 
numerable worlds,  all,  like  it,  the  workmanship  of  God ;  all, 
the  seats  of  life,  like  it ;  others,  like  it,  occupied  by  intelligent 
creatures,  capable  of  will,  of  law,  of  obedience,  of  disobedience, 
as  man  is  ;  to  hold  that  this  world  has  been  the  scene  of  God's 
care  and  kindness,  and  still  more,  of  his  special  interpositions, 
communications,  and  personal  dealings  with  its  individual  in- 
habitants, in  the  way  which  Religion  teaches,  is,  the  objector 
is  conceived  to  maintain,  extravagant  and  incredible.  It  is  to 
select  one  of  the  millions  of  globes  which  are  scattered  through 
the  vast  domain  of  space,  and  to  suppose  that  one  to  be 
treated  in  a  special  and  exceptional  manner,  without  any 
reason  for  the  assumption  of  such  a  peculiarity,  except  that 
this  globe  happens  to  be  the  habitation  of  us,  who  make  this 
assumption.  If  Religion  require  us  to  assume,  that  one  par- 
ticular corner  of  the  Universe  has  been  thus  singled  out,  and 
made  an  exception  to  the  general  rules  by  which  all  other 
parts  of  the  Universe  are  governed ;  she  makes,  it  may  be 
said,  a  demand  upon  our  credulity  which  cannot  fail  to  be  re- 
jected by  those  who  are  in  the  habit  of  contemplating  and  ad- 
miring those  general  laws.  Can  the  Earth  be  thus  the  centre 
of  the  moral  and  religious  universe,  when  it  has  been  shown 
to  have  no  claim  to  be  the  centre  of  the  physical  universe  ? 
Is  it  not  as  absurd  to  maintain  this,  as  it  would  be  to  hold,  at 
the  present  day,  the  old  Ptolemaic  hypothesis,  which  places 


ASTRONOMICAL    OBJECTION    TO    RELIGION.  37 

the  Earth  in  the  centre  of  the  heavenly  motions,  instead  of  the 
newer  Copernican  doctrine,  which  teaches  that  the  Earth  re- 
volves round  the  Sun  1  Is  not  Religion  disproved,  by  the  ne- 
cessity under  which  she  lies,  of  making  such  an  assumption 
as  this  1 

4.  Such  is,  in  a  general  way,  the  objection  to  Religion  with 
which  Chalmers  deals  ;  and,  as  I  have  said,  his  mode  of  treat- 
ing it  is  highly  interesting  and  instructive.  Perhaps,  however, 
we  shall  make  our  reasonings  and  speculations  apply  to  a 
wider  class  of  readers,  if  we  consider  the  view  now  spoken  of, 
not  as  an  objection,  urged  by  an  opponent  of  religion,  but 
rather  as  a  difficulty,  felt  by  a  friend  of  religion.  It  is,  I  con- 
ceive, certain  that  many  of  those  who  are  not  at  all  disposed 
to  argue  against  religion,  but  who,  on  the  contrary,  feel  that 
their  whole  internal  comfort  and  repose  are  bound  up  indis. 
solubly  with  their  religious  convictions,  are  still  troubled  and 
dismayed  at  the  doctrines  of  the  vastness  of  the  universe,  and 
the  multitude  of  worlds,  which  they  suppose  to  be  taught  and 
proved  by  astronomy.  They  have  a  profound  reverence  for 
the  Idea  of  God  ;  they  are  glad  to  acknowledge  their  constant 
and  universal  dependence  upon  His  preserving  power  and 
goodness ;  they  are  ready  and  desirous  to  recognize  the  work- 
ing of  His  providence ;  they  receive  the  moral  law,  as  His 
law,  with  reverence  and  submission  ;  they  regard  their  trans- 
gressions of  this  law  as  sins  against  Him ;  and  are  eager  to 
find  the  mode  of  reconciliation  to  Him,  when  thus  estranged 
from  him  ;  they  willingly  think  of  God,  as  near  to  them.  But 
while  they  listen  to  the  evidence  which  science,  as  we  have 
said,  sets  before  them,  of  the  long  array  of  groups,  and  hosts, 
and  myriads,  of  worlds,  which  are  brought  to  our  knowledge, 
they  find  themselves  perturbed  and  distressed.  They  would 
willingly  think  of  God  as  near  to  them  ;  but  during  the  pro- 


38  THE    PLURALITY    OF    WORLDS, 

gress  of  this  enumeration,  He  appears,  at  every  step,  to  be  re- 
moved further  and  further  from  them.  To  discover  that  the 
Earth  is  so  large,  the  number  of  its  inhabitants  so  great,  its 
form  so  different  from  what  man  at  first  imagines  it,  may  per- 
haps have  startled  them  ;  but  in  this  view,  there  is  nothing 
which  a  pious  mind  does  not  easily  surmount.  But  if  Venus 
and  Mars  also  have  their  inhabitants  ;  if  Saturn  and  Jupiter, 
globes  so  much  larger  than  the  earth,  have  a  proportional 
amount  of  population ;  may  not  man  be  neglected  or  over- 
looked 1  Is  he  worthy  to  be  regarded  by  the  Creator  of  all  ? 
May  not,  must  not,  the  most  pious  mind  recur  to  the  excla- 
mation of  the  Psalmist :  "  Lord,  what  is  man,  that  thou  art 
mindful  of  him  *?"  And  must  not  this  exclamation,  under 
the  new  aspect  of  things,  be  accompanied  by  an  enfeebled  and 
less  confident  belief  that  God  is  mindful  of  him  1  And  then, 
this  array  of  planets,  which  derive  their  light  from  the  Sun, 
extends  niuch  further  than  even  the  astronomer  at  first  sus- 
pected. The  orbit  of  Saturn  is  ten  times  as  wide  as  the 
orbit  of  the  earth ;  but  beyond  Saturn,  and  almost  twice  as 
far  from  'the  sun,  Herschel  discovers  Uranus,  another  great 
planet ;  and  again,  beyond  Uranus,  and  again  at  nearly  twice 
his  distance,  the  subtle  sagacity  of  the  astronomers  of  our  day, 
surmises,  and  then  detects,  another  great  planet.  In  such  a 
system  as  this,  the  earth  shrinks  into  insignificance.  Can  its 
concerns  engage  the  attention  of  him  who  made  the  whole "? 
But  again,  this  whole  Solar  System  itself,  with  all  its  orbits 
and  planets,  shrinks  into  a  mere  point,  when  compared  with 
the  nearest  fixed  star.  And  again,  the  distance  which  lies  be- 
tween us  and  such  stars,  shrinks  into  incalculable  smallness, 
when  we  journey  in  thought  to  other  fixed  stars.  And  again, 
and  again,  the  field  of  our  previous  contemplation  suffers  an  im- 
measurable contraction,  as  we  pass  on  to  other  points  of  view. 


ASTRONOMICAL     OBJECTION     TO    RELIGION.  89 

5.  And  in  all  these  successive  moves,  we  are  still  within 
the  dominions  of  the  same  Creator  and  Governor;  and  at 
every  move,  we  are  brought,  we  may  suppose,  to  new  bodies 
of  his  subjects,  bearing,  in  the  expansion  of  their  number, 
some  proportion  to  the  expanse  of  space  which  they  occupy. 
A.nd  if  this  be  so,  how  shall  the  earth,  and  men,  its  inhabitants, 
thus  repeatedly  annihilated,  as  it  were,  by  the  growing  mag- 
nitude of  the  known  Universe,  continue  to  be  anything  in  the 
regard  of  Him  who  embraces  all  1  Least  of  all,  how  shall 
men  continue  to  receive  that  special,  persevering,  providential, 
judicial,  personal  care,  which  religion  implies ;  and  without 
the  belief  of  which,  any  man  who  has  religious  thoughts,  must 
be  disturbed  and  unhappy,  desolate  and  forsaken  ? 

6.  Such  are,  I  conceive,  the  thoughts  of  many  persons,  under 
the  influence  of  the  astronomical  views  which  Chalmers  refers 
to  as  being  sometimes  employed  against  religious  belief.  Of 
course,  it  is  natural  that  the  views  which  are  used  by  un- 
believers as  arguments  against  religious  belief,  should  create 
difficulties  and  troubles  in  the  minds  of  believers ;  at  least, 
till  the  argument  is  rebutted.  And  of  course  also,  the 
answers  to  the  arguments,  considered  as  infidel  arguments, 
would  operate  to  remove  the  difficulties  which  believers  enter- 
tain on  such  grounds.  Chalmers'  reasonings  against  such 
arguments,  therefore,  will,  so  far  as  they  are  valid,  avail  to  re- 
lieve the  mental  trouble  of  believers,  who  are  perplexed  and 
oppressed  by  the  astronomical  views  of  which  I  have  spoken  ; 
as  well  as  to  confute  and  convince  those  who  reject  religion, 
on  such  astronomical  grounds.  It  may,  however,  as  I  have 
said,  be  of  use  to  deal  with  these  difficulties  rather  as  difficul- 
ties of  religious  men,  than  as  objections  of  irreligious  men;  to 
examine  rather  how  we  can  quiet  the  troubled  and  perplexed 
believer,  than  how  we  can  triumph  over  the  dogmatic  and 


40  THE    PLURALITY    OF    WORLDS. 

self-satisfied  infidel.  I,  at  least,  should  wish  to  have  the 
former,  rather  than  the  latter  of  these  tasks,  regarded  as  that 
which  I  propose  to  myself. 

I  shall  hereafter  attempt  to  explain  more  fully  the  diffi- 
culties which  the  doctrine  of  the  Plurality  of  Worlds  appears 
to  some  persons  to  throw  in  the  way  of  Revealed  Religion ; 
but  before  I  do  so,  there  is  one  part  of  Chalmers'  answer, 
bearing  especially  upon  Natural  Religion,  which  it  may  be 
proper  to  attend  to. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  ANSWEE  FEOM  THE   MICROSCOPE. 

1.  It  is  not  my  business,  nor  my  intention,  to  criticize  the 
remarkable  work  of  Chalmers  to  which  I  have  so  often  referred. 
But  I  may  say,  that  the  arguments  there  employed  by  him, 
so  far  as  they  go  upon  astronomical  or  philosophical  grounds, 
are  of  great  weight ;  and  upon  the  whole,  such  as  we  may  both 
assent  to,  as  scientifically  true,  and  accept  as  rationally  per- 
suasive. I  think,  however,  that  there  are  other  arguments, 
also  drawn  from  scientific  discoveries,  which  bear,  in  a  very 
important  and  striking  manner,  upon  the  opinions  in  question, 
and  which  Chalmers  has  not  referred  to ;  and  I  conceive  that 
there  are  philosophical  views  of  another  kind,  which,  for  those 
who  desire  and  who  will  venture  to  regard  the  Universe  and 
its  Creator  in  the  wider  and  deeper  relations  which  appear  to 
be  open  to  human  speculation,  may  be  a  source  of  satisfaction. 
When  certain  positive  propositions,  maintained  as  true  while 
they"  are  really  highly  doubtful,  have  given  rise  to  difficulties 
in  the  minds  of  religious  persons,  other  positive  propositions, 
combating  these,  propounded  and  supported  by  argument, 
that  they  may  be  accepted  according  to  their  evidence,  may, 
at  any  rate,  have  force  enough  to  break  down  and  dissipate 
such  loosely  founded  difficulties.     To  present  to  the  reader's 


42  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

mind  such  speculations  as  I  have  thus  indicated,  is  the  object 
of  the  following  pages.  They  can,  of  course,  pretend  to  no 
charm,  except  for  persons  who  are  willing  to  have  their  minds 
occupied  with  such  difficulties  and  such  speculations  as  I  have 
referred  to.  Those  who  are  willing  to  be  so  employed,  may, 
perhaps,  find  in  what  I  have  to  say  something  which  may  in- 
terest them.  For,  of  the  arguments  which  I  have  to  expound 
some,  though  they  appear  to  me  both  very  obvious  and  very 
forcible,  have  never,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  been  put  forth  in 
that  religious  bearing  which  seems  to  belong  to  them ;  and 
others,  though  aspiring  to  point  out  in  some  degree  the  rela- 
tion of  the  Universe  and  its  Creator^  are  of  a  very  simple  kind ; 
that  is,  for  minds  which  are  prepared  to  deal  with  such  subjects 
at  all. 

2.  As  I  have  said,  the  arguments  with  which  we  are  here 
concerned  refer  both  to  Natural  Eeligion  and  to  Revealed 
Religion ;  and  there  is  one  of  Chalmers'  arguments,  bearing 
especially  upon  the  former  branch  of  the  subject,  which  I  may 
begin  by  noticing.  Among  the  thoughts  which,  it  was  stated, 
might  naturally  arise  in  men's  minds,  when  the  telescope  re- 
vealed to  them  an  innumerable  multitude  of  worlds  besides 
the  one  which  we  inhabit,  was  this  :  that  the  Governor  of  the 
Universe,  who  has  so  many  worlds  under  his  management, 
cannot  be  conceived  as  bestowing  upon  this  Earth,  and  its  va- 
rious tribes  of  inhabitants,  that  care  which,  till  then.  Natural 
Religion  had  taught  men  that  he  does  employ,  to  secure  to 
man  the  possession  and  use  of  his  faculties  of  mind  and  body ; 
and  to  all  animals  the  requisites  of  animal  existence  and 
animal  enjoyment.  And  upon  this  Chalmers  remarks,  that 
just  about  the  time  when  science  gave  rise  to  the  suggestion 
of  this  difficulty,  she  also  gave  occasion  to  a  remarkable  reply 
to  it.     Just  about  the  same  time  that  the  invention  of  the 


THE    ANSWER    FROM     THE    MICROSCOPE.  43 

Telescope  showed  that  there  were  innumerable  worlds,  which 
might  have  inhabitants  requiring  the  Creator's  care  as  much  as 
the  tribes  of  this  earth  do, — the  invention  of  the  Microsco2?e 
showed  that  there  were,  in  this  world,  innumerable  tribes  of 
animals,  which  had  been  all  along  enjoying  the  benefits  of  the 
Creator's  care,  as  much  as  those  kinds  with  which  man  had 
been  familar  from  the  beginning.  The  telescope  suggested 
that  there  might  be  dv/ellers  in  Jupiter  or  in  Saturn,  of  giant 
size  and  unknown  structure,  who  must  share  with  us  the  pre- 
serving care  of  God.  The  microscope  showed  that  there  had 
been,  close  to  us,  inhabiting  minute  crevices  and  crannies, 
peopling  the  leaves  of  plants,  and  the  bodies  of  other  animals, 
animalcules  of  a  minuteness  hitherto  unguessed,  and  of  a 
structure  hitherto  unknown,  who  had  been  always  sharers  with 
US  in  God's  preserving  care.  The  telescope  brought  into  view 
worlds  as  numerous  as  the  drops  of  water  which  make  up  the 
ocean ;  the  microscope  brought  into  view  a  world  in  almost 
every  drop  of  water.  Infinity  in  one  direction  was  balanced 
by  infinity  in  the  other.  The  doubts  which  men  might  feel 
as  to  what  God  could  do,  were  balanced  by  certainties  which 
they  discovered,  as  to  what  he  had  always  been  doing.  His 
care  and  goodness  could  not  be  supposed  to  be  exhausted  by 
the  hitherto  known  population  of  the  earth,  for  it  was  proved 
that  they  had  not  hitherto  been  confined  to  that  population. 
The  discovery  of  new  worlds  at  vast  distances  from  us,  was 
accompanied  by  the  discovery  of  new  worlds  close  to  us, 
even  in  the  very  substances  with  which  we  were  best  ac- 
quainted ;  and  was  thus  rendered  ineffective  to  disturb  the 
belief  of  those  who  had  regarded  the  world  as  having  God  for 
its  governor. 

3.  This  is  a  striking  reflection,  and  is  put  by  Chalmers  in  a 
very  striking  manner ;  and  it  is  well  fitted  to  remove  the 


44  TIL'S     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

scruples  to  which  it  is  especially  addressed.  If  there  be  any 
persons  to  whom  the  astronomical  discoveries  which  the  tele- 
scope has  brought  to  light,  suggests  doubts  or  difficulties  with 
regard  to  such  truths  of  Natural  Religion  as  God's  care  for 
and  government  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  the  discov- 
eries of  the  many  various  forms  of  animalcular  life  which  the 
microscope  has  brought  to  light  are  well  fitted  to  remove  such 
doubts,  and  to  solve  such  difficulties.  We  may  easily  believe 
that  the  power  of  God  to  sustain  and  provide  for  animal  life, 
animal  sustenance,  animal  enjoyment,  can  suffice  for  innumer- 
able worlds  besides  this,  without  being  withdrawn  or  dis- 
tracted or  wearied  in  this  earth ;  for  we  find  that  it  does  suf- 
fice for  innumerable  more  inhabitants  of  this  earth  than  we 
were  before  aware  of.  If  we  had  imagined  before,  that,  in 
conceiving  God  as  able  and  willing  to  provide  for  the  life  and 
pleasure  of  all  the  sentient  beings  which  we  knew  to  exist  upon 
the  earth,  we  had  formed  an  adequate  notion  of  his  power 
and  of  his  goodness,  these  microscopical  discoveries  are  well 
adapted  to  undeceive  us.  They  show  us  that  all  the  notions 
which  our  knowledge,  hitherto,  had  enabled  us  to  form  of  the 
powers  and  attributes  of  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  all 
living  things,  are  vastly,  are  immeasurably  below  the  real 
tiuth  of  the  case.  They  show  us  that  God,  as  revealed  to  us 
in  the  animal  creation,  is  the  Author  and  Giver  of  life,  of 
the  organization  which  life  imj)lies,  of  the  contrivances  by 
which  it  is  conducted  and  sustained,  of  the  enjoyment  by  which 
it  is  accompanied, — to  an  extent  infinitely  beyond  what  the 
unassisted  vision  of  man  could  have  suggested.  The  facts 
which  are  obvious  to  man,  from  which  religious  minds  in  all 
ages  have  drawn  their  notions  and  their  evidence  of  the 
Divine  power  and  goodness,  care  and  wisdom,  in  providing  for 
its  creatures,  require  we  find,  to  be  indefinitely  extended,  in 


THE  ANSWER  FROM  THE  MICROSCOPE.       45 

virtue  of  the  new  tribes  of  minute  creatures,  and  still  new 
tribes,  and  still  more  minute,  which  we  find  existing  around 
us.  The  views  of  our  Natural  Theology  must  be  indefinitely- 
extended  on  one  side  ;  and  therefore  we  need  not  be  startled 
or  disturbed  at  having  to  extend  them  indefinitely  on  the  other 
side ; — at  having  to  believe  that  there  are,  in  other  worlds, 
creatures  whom  God  has  created,  whom  he  sustains  in  life, 
for  whom  he  provides  the  pleasures  of  life,  as  he  does  for  the 
long  unsuspected  creatures  of  this  world. 

4.  This  is,  I  say,  a  reflection  which  might  quiet  the  mind  of 
a  person,  whom  astronomical  discoveries  had  led  to  doubt  of 
the  ordinary  doctrines  of  Natural  Religion.  But,  T  think,  it 
may  be  questioned,  whether,  to  produce  such  doubts,  is  a  com- 
mon or  probable  effect  of  an  acquaintance  with  astronomical 
discoveries.  Undoubtedly,  by  such  discoveries,  a  person  who 
believes  in  God,  in  his  wisdom,  power,  and  goodness,  on  the 
evidence  of  the  natural  world,  is  required  to  extend  and  exalt 
his  conceptions  of  those  Divine  Attributes.  He  had  believed 
God  to  be  the  Author  of  many  forms  of  life ; — he  finds  him  to 
be  the  Author  of  still  more  forms  of  life.  He  had  traced 
many  contrivances  in  the  structure  of  animals,  for  their  sus- 
tentation  and  well-being ;  his  new  discoveries  disclose  to  him 
(for  that  is  undoubtedly  among  the  effects  of  microscopic  re- 
searches) still  more  nice  contrivances.  He  had  seen  reason 
to  think  that  all  sentient  beings  have  their  enjoyments ;  he 
finds  new  fields  of  enjoyment  of  the  same  kind.  But  in  all 
this,  there  is  little  or  nothing  to  disturb  the  views  and  con- 
victions of  the  Natural  Theologian.  He  must,  even  by  the 
evidence  of  facts  patent  to  ordinary  observation,  have  been 
led  to  believe  that  the  Divine  Wisdom  and  Power  are  not 
only  great,  but  great  in  a  degree  which  we  cannot  fathom  or 
comprehend  ;— -that  they  are,  to  our  apprehension,  infinite :  his 


46  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

new  discoveries  only  confirm  the  impression  of  this  infinite 
character  of  the  Divine  Attributes.  He  had  before  believed 
the  existence  of  an  intelligent  and  wise  Creator,  on  the  evi- 
dence of  the  marks  of  design  and  contrivance,  which  the 
creation  exhibited :  of  such  design  and  contrivance  he  dis- 
covers new  marks,  new  examples.  He  had  believed  that  God 
is  good,  because  he  found  those  contrivances  invariably  had 
the  good  of  the  creature  for  their  object :  he  finds,  still,  that 
this  is  the  general,  the  universal  scheme  of  the  creation,  now 
when  his  view  of  it  is  extended.  He  has  no  difficulty  in  ex- 
panding his  religious  conceptions,  to  correspond  with  his 
scientific  discoveries,  so  far  as  the  microscope  is  the  instru- 
ment of  discovery ;  there  is  no  reason  why  he  should  have 
any  more  difficulty  in  doing  the  same,  when  the  telescope  is 
his  informant.  It  is  true,  that  in  this  case  the  information  is 
more  imperfect.  It  does  not  tell  him,  even  that  there  are 
living  inhabitants  in  the  regions  which  it  reveals ;  and,  conse- 
quently, it  does  not  disclose  any  of  those  examples  of  design 
which  belong  to  the  structure  of  living  things.  But  if  we  sup- 
pose, from  analogy,  that  there  are  living  things  in  those 
regions,  we  have  no  difficulty  in  conceiving,  from  analogy 
also,  that  those  living  things  are  constructed  with  a  care  and 
wisdom  such  as  appear  in  the  inhabitants  of  earth.  It  will 
not  readily  or  commonly  occur  to  a  speculator  on  such  sub- 
jects, that  there  is  any  source  of  perplexity  or  unbelief,  in 
such  an  assumption  of  inhabitants  of  other  worlds,  even  if  we 
make  the  assumption.  It  is  as  easy,  it  may  well  and  reason- 
ably be  thought,  for  God  to  create  a  population  for  the  planets 
as  to  make  the  planets  themselves  ; — as  easy  to  supply 
Jupiter  with  tenants,  as  with  satellites; — as  easy  to  devise 
the  organization  of  an  inhabitant  of  Saturn,  as  the  structure 
and  equilibrium  of  Saturn's  ring.     It  is  no  more  difficult  for 


THE     ANSWER     FROM     THE     MICROSCOPE.  47 

the  Universal  Creator  to  extend  to  those  bodies  the  powers 
which  operate  in  organized  matter,  than  the  powers  which 
operate  in  brute  matter.  It  is  as  easy  for  Him  to  establish 
circulation  and  nutrition  in  material  structures,  as  cohesion 
ftnd  crystallization,  which  we  m.ust  suppose  the  planetary 
masses  to  possess ;  or  attraction  and  inertia,  which  we  know 
them  to  possess.  No  doubt,  to  our  conception,  organization 
appears  to  be  a  step  beyond  cohesion ;  circulation  of  living 
Huids,  a  step  beyond  crystallization  of  dead  masses  : — but 
then,  it  is  in  tracing  such  steps,  that  we  discern  the  peculiar 
character  of  the  Creator's  agency.  He  does  not  merely  work 
with  mechanical  and  chemical  powers,  as  man  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent can  do ;  but  with  organic  and  vital  powers,  which  man 
cannot  command.  The  Creator,  therefore,  can  animate  the 
dust  of  each  planet,  as  easily  as  miake  the  dust  itself  And 
when  from,  organic  life  we  rise  to  sentient  life,  we  have  still 
only  another  step  in  the  known  order  of  Creative  Power.  To 
create  animals,  in  any  province  of  the  Universe,  cannot  be 
conceived  as  much  more  incomprehensible  or  incredible,  than 
to  create  vegetables.  No  doubt,  the  addition  of  the  living 
and  sentient  principle  to  the  material,  and  even  to  the  organic 
structure,  is  a  mighty  step  ;  and  one  which  may,  perhaps,  be 
made  the  occasion  of  some  speculative  suggestions,  in  a  sub- 
sequent part  of  this  Essay  ;  but  still,  it  is  not  likely  that  any 
one,  who  had  formed  his  conceptions  of  the  Divine  Mind  from 
its  manifestations  in  the  production  and  sustentation  of  animal, 
as  well  as  vegetable  life,  on  this  earth,  would  have  his  belief 
in  the  operation  of  such  a  Mind,  shaken,  by  any  necessity 
which  might  be  impressed  upon  him,  of  granting  the  existence 
of  animal  life  on  other  planets,  as  well  as  on  the  earth,  or 
even  on  innumerable  such  planets,  and  on  innumerable  sys- 
tems of  planets  and  worlds,  system  above  system. 


48  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

5.  The  remark  of  Chalmers,  therefore,  to  which  I  have  re 
ferred,  striking  as  it  is,  does  not  appear  to  b'^ar  directly  upon 
a  difficulty  of  any  great  force.  If  astronomy  gives  birth  to 
scruples  which  interfere  with  religion,  they  must  be  found  in 
some  other  quarter  than  in  the  possibility  of  mere  animal  life 
existing  in  other  parts  of  the  Universe,  as  well  as  on  our 
earth.  That  possibility  may  require  us  to  enlarge  our  idea  of 
the  Deity,  but  it  has  little  or  no  tendency  to  disturb  our  ap- 
prehension  of  his  attributes. 


CHAPTER  IV.     • 

FUETHEE  STATEMENT  OF  THE   DIFFICULTY. 

1.  We  have  attempted  to  show  that  if  the  discoveries  made 
by  the  Telescope  should  excite  in  any  one's  mind,  difficulties 
respecting  those  doctrines  of  Natural  Religion, — the  adequacy 
of  the  Creator  to  the  support  and  guardianship  of  all  the  ani- 
mal life  which  may  exist  in  the  universe, — the  discoveries  of 
the  Microscope  may  remove  such  difficulties ;  but  we  have 
remarked  also,  that  the  train  of  thought  which  leads  men  to 
dwell  upon  such  difficulties  does  not  seem  to  be  common. 

But  what  will  be  the  train  of  thought  to  which  we  shall  be 
led,  if  we  suppose  that  there  are,  on  other  planets,  and  in 
other  systems,  not  animals  only,  living  things,  which,  however 
different  from  the  animals  of  this  earth,  are  yet  in  some  way 
analogous  to  them,  according  to  the  difference  of  circum- 
stances ;  but  also  creatures  analogous  to  man ; — intellectual 
creatures,  living,  we  must  suppose,  under  a  moral  law,  respon- 
sible for  transgression,  the  subjects  of  a  Providential  Govern- 
ment ?  If  we  suppose  that,  in  the  other  planets  of  our  solar 
systems,  and  of  other  systems,  there  are  creatures  of  such  a 
kind,  and  under  such  conditions  as  these,  how  far  will  the  re- 
ligious opinions  which  we  had  previously  entertained  be  dis- 
turbed or  modified  1     Will  any  new  difficulty  be  introduced 

3 


50  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

into  our  views  of  the  government  of  the  world  by  such  a  sup- 
position ? 

2.  I  have  spoken  of  man  as  an  Intellectual  Creature ;  mean- 
ing thereby  that  he  has  a  Mind  ; — ^powers  of  thought,  by 
which  he  can  contemplate  the  relations  and  properties  of 
things  in  a  general  and  abstract  form ;  and  among  other  re- 
lations, moral  relations,  the  distinction  of  right  and  wrong  in 
his  actions.  Those  powers  of  thought  lead  him  to  think  of  a 
Creator  and  Ordainer  of  all  things ;  and  his  perception  of 
right  and  wrong  leads  him  to  regard  this  Creator  as  also  the 
Governor  and  Judge  of  his  creatures.  The  operation  of  his 
mind  directs  him  to  believe  in  a  Supreme  Mind :  his  moral 
nature  directs  him  to  believe  that  the  course  of  human  affairs, 
and  the  condition  of  men,  both  as  individuals  and  as  bodies,  is 
determined  by  the  providential  government  of  God. 

3.  "With  regard  to  the  bearing  of  a  merely  intellectual  nature 
on  such  questions,  it  does  not  appear  that  any  considerable 
difficulty  would  be  at  once  occasioned  in  our  religious  views, 
by  supposing  such  a  nature  to  belong  to  other  creatures,  the 
inhabitants  of  other  planets,  as  well  as  to  man.  The  existence 
of  our  own  minds  directs  us,  as  I  have  said,  to  a  Supreme 
Mind  ;  and  the  nature  of  Mind  is  conceived  to  be,  in  all  its 
manifestations,  so  much  the  same,  that  we  can  conceive  minds 
to  be  multiplied  indefinitely,  without  fear  of  confusion,  inter- 
ference, or  exhaustion.  There  may  be,  in  Jupiter,  creatures 
endowed  with  an  intellect  which  enables  them  to  discover  and 
demonstrate  the  relations  of  space ;  and  if  so,  they  cannot 
have  discovered  and  demonstrated  anything  of  that  kind  as 
true,  which  is  not  true  for  us  also :  their  Geometry  must 
coincide  with  ours,  as  far  as  each  goes  : — thus  showing  how 
absurdly,  as  Plato  long  ago  observed,  we  give  to  the  science 
which  deals  with  the  relations  of  space,  a  name  {geometry), 


FURTHER     STATEMENT     OF     THE     DIFFICULTY.  51 

borrowed  from  the  art  of  measuring  the  earth.  The  earth 
with  its  properties  is  no  more  the  special  basis  of  geometry, 
than,  are  Jupiter  or  Saturn,  or,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  Sirius 
or  Arcturus  and  their  systems,  with  their  properties.  Wher- 
ever pure  intellect  is,  we  are  compelled  to  conceive  that,  when 
employed  upon  the  same  objects,  its  results  and  conclusions 
are  the  same.  If  there  be  intelligent  inhabitants  of  the  Moon, 
they  may,  like  us,  have  employed  their  intelligence  in  reason- 
ing upon  the  properties  of  lines  and  angles  and  triangles ;  and 
must,  so  far  as  they  have  gone,  have  arrived,  in  their  thoughts, 
at  the  same  properties  of  lines  and  angles  and  triangles,  at 
which  we  have  arrived.  They  must,  like  us,  have  had  to  dis- 
tinguish between  right  angles  and  oblique  angles.  They  may 
have  come  to  know,  as  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth 
came  to  know,  four  thousand  years  ago,  that,  in  a  right-angled 
triangle,  the  square  on  the  larger  side  is  equal  to  the  sum  of 
the  squares  on  the  other  two  sides.  We  can  conceive  occur- 
rences which  would  give  us  evidence  that  the  Moon,  as  well  as 
the  Earth,  contains  geometers.  If  we  were  to  see,  on  the  face 
of  the  full  moon,  a  figure  gradually  becoming  visible,  repre- 
senting a  right-angled  triangle  with  a  square  constructed  on 
each  of  its  three  sides  as  a  base ;  we  should  regard  it  as  the 
work  of  intelligent  creatures  there,  who  might  be  thus  making 
a  signal  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  that  they  possessed 
such  knowledge,  and  were  desirous  of  making  known  to  their 
nearest  neighbors  in  the  solar  system,  their  existence  and  their 
speculations.  In  such  an  event,  curious  and  striking  as  it 
would  be,  we  should  see  nothing  but  what  we  could  under- 
stand and  accept,  without  unsettling  our  belief  in  the  Supreme 
and  Divine  Intelligence.  On  the  contrary,  we  could  hardly 
fail  to  receive  such  a  manifestation  as  a  fresh  evidence  that  the 
Divine  Mind  had  imparted  tc   the  inhabitants  of  the  Moon,  as 


62  :;he   plurality   of  worlds. 

he  has  to  us,  a  power  of  apprehending,  in  a  very  general  and 
abstract  form,  the  relations  of  that  space  in  which  he  performs 
his  works.  We  should  judge,  that  having  been  led  so  far  in 
their  speculations,  they  must,  in  all  probability,  have  been  led 
also  to  a  conception  of  the  Universe,  as  the  field  of  action  of 
a  universal  and  Divine  Mind;  that  having  thus  become  geo- 
meters, they  must  have  ascended  to  the  Idea  of  a  God  who 
works  by  geometry. 

4.  But  yet,  by  such  a  supposition,  on  further  consideration, 
we  find  ourselves  introduced  to  views  entirely  different  from 
those  to  which  we  are  led  by  the  supposition  of  mere  animal 
life,  existing  in  other  worlds  than  the  earth.  For,  not  to  dwell 
here  upon  any  speculations  as  to  how  far  the  operations  of  our 
minds  may  resemble  the  operations  of  the  Divine  Mind ; — a 
subject  which  we  shall  hereafter  endeavor  to  discuss ; — we 
know  that  the  advance  to  such  truths  as  those  of  geometry 
has  been,  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  gradual  and  pro- 
gressive. Though  the  human  naind  have  had  the  same  powers 
and  faculties,  from  the  beginning  of  the  existence  of  the  race 
up  to  the  present  time,  (as  we  cannot  but  sujopose,)  the  results 
of  the  exercise  of  these  powers  and  faculties  have  been  very 
different  in  different  ages ;  and  have  gradually  grown  up,  from 
small  beginnings,  to  the  vast  and  complex  body  of  knowledge 
concerning  the  scheme  and  relations  of  the  Universe,  which 
is  at  present  accessible  to  the  minds  of  human  speculators.  It 
is,  as  we  have  said,  probably  about  four  thousand  years,  since 
the  first  steps  in  such  knowledge  were  made.  Geometry  is 
said  to  have  had  its  origin  in  Egypt ;  but  it  assumed  its  ab- 
stract and  speculative  character  first  among  the  Greeks. 
Pythagoras  is  related  to  have  been  the  first  who  saw,  in 
the  clear  light  of  demonstration,  the  property  of  the  right- 
angled  triai]<^lc,  of  which  we  have  spoken.     The  Greeks,  from 


FURTHER     STATEMENT     OF     THE     DIFFICULTY.  53 

the  time  of  Socrates,  stimulated  especially  by  Plato,  pursued, 
with  wonderful  success,  the  investigation  of  this  kind  of  truths. 
They  saw  that  such  truths  had  their  application  in  the  heavens, 
far  more  extensively  than  on  the  earth.  They  were  enabled, 
by  such  speculations,  to  unravel,  in  a  great  degree,  the  scheme 
of  the  universe,  before  so  seemingly  entangled  and  perplexed. 
They  determined,  to  a  very  considerable  extent,  the  relative 
motions  of  the  planets  and  of  the  stars.  And  in  modern  times, 
after  a  long  interval,  in  which  such  knowledge  was  nearly  station- 
ary, the  progress  again  began  ;  and  further  advances  were  suc- 
cessively made  in  man's  knowledge  of  the  scheme  and  structure 
of  the  visible  heavens ;  till  at  length  the  intellect  of  ma-n  was  led 
to  those  views  of  the  extent  of  the  Universe  and  the  nature  of 
the  stars,  which  are  the  basis  of  the  discussions  in  which  we 
are  now  engaged.  And  thus  man,  having  probably  been,  in 
the  earliest  ages  of  the  existence  of  the  species,  entirely  igno- 
rant of  abstract  truth,  and  of  the  relations  which,  by  the 
knowledge  of  such  truth,  we  can  trace  in  nature,  (as  the  bar- 
barous tribes  which  occupy  the  greater  part  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face still  are ;)  has,  by  a  long  series  of  progressive  steps,  come 
into  the  possession  of  knowledge,  which  we  cannot  regard 
without  wonder  and  admiration ;  and  which  seems  to  elevate 
him  in  no  inconsiderable  degree,  towards  a  community  of 
thought  with  that  Divine  Mind,  into  the  nature  and  scheme  of 
whose  works  he  is  thus  permitted  to  penetrate. 

5.  Now  the  knowledge  which  man  is  capable,  by  the  nature 
of  his  mental  faculties,  of  acquiring,  being  thus  blank  and 
rudimentary  at  first,  and  only  proceeding  gradually,  by  the 
steps  of  a  progress,  numerous,  slow,  and  often  long  inter- 
rupted, to  that  stage  in  which  it  is  the  basis  of  our  present 
speculations;  the  view  which  we  have  just  taken,  of  the  na- 
ture of  Intellect,  a«!  a  faculty  always  of  the  same  kind,  always 


54  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

uniform  iii  its  operations,  always  consistent  in  its  results,  ap- 
pears to  require  reconsideration ;  and  especially  with  refer- 
ence to  the  application  which  we  made  of  that  view,  to  the 
intelligent  inhabitants  of  other  planets  and  other  worlds,  if 
such  inhabitants  there  be.  For  if  we  suppose  that  there  are, 
in  the  Moon,  or  in  Jupiter,  creatures  possessing  intellectual 
faculties  of  the  same  kind  as  those  of  man ;  capable  of  appre- 
hending the  same  abstract  and  general  truths  ;  able,  like  man, 
to  attain  to  a  knowledge  of  the  scheme  of  the  Universe ;  yet 
this  supposition  merely  gives  the  capacity  and  the  ability  ;  and 
does  not  include  any  security,  or  even  high  probability,  as  it 
would  seem,  of  the  exercise  of  such  capacity,  or  of  the  success- 
ful application  of  such  ability.  Even  if  the  surface  of  the 
Moon  be  inhabited  by  creatures  as  intelligent  as  men,  why 
must  we  suppose  that  they  know  anything  more  of  the  geo- 
metry and  astronomy,  than  the  great  bulk  of  the  less  cultured 
inhabitants  of  the  earth,  who  occupy,  really,  a  space  far  larger 
than  the  surface  of  the  Moon ;  and,  all  intelligent  though  they 
be,  and  in  the  full  possession  of  mental  faculties,  are  yet,  on 
the  subjects  of  geometry  and  astronomy,  entirely  ignorant  ;■ — 
their  minds,  as  to  such  a  knowledge,  a  blank  1  It  does  not 
follow,  then,  that  even  if  there  be  such  inhabitants  in  the 
Moon,  or  in  the  Planets,  they  have  any  sympathy  with  us,  or 
any  community  of  knowledge  on  the  subjects  of  which  we 
are  now  speaking.  The  surface  of  the  Moon,  or  of  Jupiter, 
or  of  Saturn,  even  if  well  peopled,  may  be  peopled  only  with 
tribes  as  barbarous  and  ignorant  as  Tartars,  or  Esquimaux,  or 
Australians  ;  and  therefore,  by  making  such  a  supposition,  we 
do  little,  even  hypothetically,  to  extend  the  domijiion  of  that 
intelligence,  by  means  of  which  all  intelligent  beings  have 
some  community  of  thought  with  each  other,  ar.d  some  sug- 
gestion o/  '^^he  working  of  the  Divine  and  Universal  Mind. 


FURTHER     STATEMENT     OF     THE     DIFFICULTY.         55 

6.  But,  in  fact,  the  view  wliich  we  have  given  of  the  mode 
of  existence  of  the  human  species  upon  the  earth,  as  being  a 
progressive  existence,  even  in  the  development  of  the  intel- 
lectual powers  and  their  results,  necessarily  fastens  down  our 
thoughts  and  our  speculations  to  the  earth,  and  makes  us  feel 
how  visionary  and  gratuitous  it  is  to  assume  any  similar  kind 
of  existence  in  any  region  occupied  by  other  beings  than  man. 
As  we  have  said,  we  have  no  insuperable  difficulty  in  conceiv- 
ing other  parts  of  the  Universe  to  be  tenanted  by  animals. 
Animal  life  implies  no  progress  in  the  species.  Such  as  they 
are  in  one  century,  such  are  they  in  another.  The  conditions 
of  their  sustentation  and  generation  being  given,  which  no 
difference  of  physical  circumstances  can  render  incredible,  the 
race  may,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  go  on  forever.  But  a  race 
which  makes  a  progress  in  the  development  of  its  faculties 
cannot  thus,  or  at  least  cannot  with  the  same  ease,  be  conceived, 
as  existing  through  all  time,  and  under  all  circumstances. 
Progress  implies,  or  at  least  suggests,  a  beginning  and  an  end. 
If  the  mere  existence  of  a  race  imply  a  sustaining  and  pre- 
serving power  in  the  Creator,  the  progress  of  a  race  implies  a 
guiding  and  impelling  power ;  a  Governor  and  Director,  as 
well  as  a  Creator  and  Preserver.  And  progress,  not  merely 
in  material  conditions,  not  merely  in  the  exercise  of  bodily 
faculties,  but  in  the  exercise  of  mental  faculties,  in  the  intel- 
lectual condition  of  a  portion  of  the  species,  still  more  implies 
a  special  position  and  character  of  the  race,  which  cannot,  with- 
out great  license  of  hypothesis,  be  extended  to  other  races ; 
and  which,  if  so  extended,  becomes  unmeaning,  from  the  im- 
possibility of  our  knowing  what  is  progress  in  any  other 
species  ; — -from  what  and  towards  what  it  tends.  The  intel- 
lectual progress  of  the  human  species  has  been  a  progress  in 
the  ase  of  thought,  and  in  the  knowledge  wliich  such  use  pro- 


56  -  THE     PLUEALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

cures ;  it  has  been  a  progress  from  mere  matter  to  mind ; 
from  the  impressions  of  sense  to  ideas  ;  from  what  in  knowl- 
edge is  casual,  partial,  temporary,  to  what  is  necessary,  uni- 
versal, and  eternal.  We  can  conceive  no  progress,  of  the  na- 
ture of  this,  which  is  not  identical  with  this  ;  nothing  like  it, 
which  is  not  the  same.  And,  therefore,  if  we  will  people 
other  planets  with  creatures,  intelligent  as  man  is  intelligent, 
we  must  not  only  give  to  them  the  intelligence,  but  the  intel- 
lectual history  of  the  human  species.  They  must  have  had 
their  minds  unfolded  by  steps  similar  to  those  by  which  the 
human  mind  has  been  unfolded ;  or  at  least,  differing  from 
t'.iem  only  as  the  intellectual  history  of  one  nation  of  the 
earth  differs  from  that  of  another.  They  must  have  had  their 
Pythagoras,  their  Plato,  their  Kepler,  their  Galileo,  their 
Newton,  if  they  know  what  we  know.  And  thus,  in  order  to 
conceive,  on  the  Moon  or  on  Jupiter,  a  race  of  beings  intelli- 
gent like  man,  we  must  conceive,  there,  colonies  of  men,  with 
histories  resembling  more  or  less  the  histories  of  human  col- 
onies ;  and  indeed  resembling  the  history  of  those  nations 
whose  knowledge  we  inherit,  far  more  closely  than  the  history 
of  any  other  terrestrial  nation  resembles  that  part  of  terrestrial 
history.  If  we  do  this,  we  exercise  an  act  of  invention  and 
imagination  which  may  be  as  coherent  as  a  fairy  tale,  but 
which,  without  further  proof,  must  be  as  purely  imaginary  and 
arbitrary.  But  if  we  do  not  do  this,  we  cannot  conceive  that 
those  regions  are  occupied  at  all  by  intelligent  beings.  Intel- 
ligence, as  we  see  in  the  human  race,  in  order  to  have  those 
characters  which  concern  our  argument,  implies  a  history  of 
intellectual  development ;  and  to  assume  arbitrarily  a  history 
of  intellectual  development  for  the  inhabitants  of  a  remote 
planet,  as  a  ground  of  reasoning  either  for  or  against  Religion, 
is  a  proceeding  which  we  can  hardly  be  expected  either  to  as- 


FURTHER     STATEMENT     OF     THE     DIFFICULTY,  57 

sent  to  or  to  refute.  If  we  are  to  form  any  opinions  with  re- 
gard to  the  condition  of  such  bodies,  and  to  trace  any  bearing  of 
such  opinions  upon  our  religious  views,  we  must  proceed  upon 
some  ground  which  has  more  of  reality  than  such  a  gratuitous 
assuijption, 

7.  Thus  the  condition  of  man  upon  the  earth,  as  a  condition 
of  intellectual  progress,  implies  such  a  special  guidance  and 
government  exercised  over  the  race  by  the  Author  of  his 
being,  as  produces  progress  ;  and  we  have  not,  so  far  as  we  yet 
perceive,  any  reason  for  supposing  that  He  exercises  a  like 
guidance  and  government  over  any  of  the  other  bodies  with 
which  the  researches  of  astronomers  have  made  us  acquainted. 
The  earth  and  its  inhabitants  are  under  the  care  of  God  in  a 
special  manner ;  and  we  are  utterly  destitute  of  any  reason 
for  believing  that  other  planets  and  other  systems  are  under 
the  care  of  God  in  the  same  manner.  If  we  regarded  merely 
the  existence  of  unprogressive  races  of  animals  upon  our  globe, 
we  might  easily  suppose  that  other  globes  also  are  similarly 
tenanted  ;  and  we  might  infer,  that  the  Creator  and  Upholder 
of  animal  life  was  active  on  those  globes,  in  the  same  manner 
as  upon  ours.  But  when  we  coijie  to  a  progressive  creature, 
whose  condition  implies  a  beginning,  and  therefore  suggests  an 
end,  we  form  a  peculiar  judgment  with  respect  to  God's  care 
of  that  creature,  which  we  have  not  as  yet  seen  the  slightest 
grounds  to  extend  to  other  possible  fields  of  existence,  where 
we  discern  no  indication  of  progress,  of  beginning,  or  of  end. 
So  far  as  we  can  judge,  God  is  mindful  of  man,  and  has  launched 
and  guided  his  coarse  in  a  certain  path  which  makes  his  lot 
and  state  different  from  that  of  all  other  creatures. 

8.  Now  when  we  have  arrived  at  this  result,  we  have,  I  con- 
ceive, reached  one  of  the  points  at  which  the  difficulties  which 
astronomical  discovery  puts  in  the  way  of  religious  conviction 


58  THE  PLURALITY  OF  WORLDS. 

begin  to  appear.  The  Earth  and  its  human  inhabitants  are,  as 
far  as  we  yet  know,  in  an  especial  manner  the  subjects  of  God's 
care  and  government,  for  the  race  is  progressive.  Now  can 
this  be  1  Is  it  not  difficult  to  believe  that  it  is  so  1  The 
earth,  so  small  a  speck,  only  one  among  so  many,  so  many 
thousands,  so  many  millions  of  other  bodies,  all,  probably,  of 
the  same  nature  with  itself,  wherefore  should  it  draw  to  it  the 
special  regards  of  the  Creator  of  all,  and  occupy  his  care  in  an 
especial  manner  '?  The  teaching  of  the  history  of  the  human 
race,  as  intellectually  progressive,  agrees  with  the  teaching  of 
Religion,  in  impressing  upon  us  that  God  is  mindful  of  man  ; 
that  he  does  regard  him  ;  but  still,  there  naturally  arises  in  our 
minds  a  feeling  of  perplexity  and  bewilderment,  which  ex- 
presses itself  in  the  words  already  so  often  quoted.  What  is 
man,  that  this  should  be  so  1  Can  it  be  true  that  this  province 
is  thus  singled  out  for  a  special  and  peculiar  administration  by 
the  Lord  of  the  Universal  Empire  1 

9.  Before  I  make  any  attempt  to  answer  these  questions,  I 
must  pursue  the  difficulty  somewhat  further,  and  look  at  it  in 
other  forms.  As  I  have  said,  the  history  of  Man  has  been,  in 
certain  nations,  a  history  of  intellectual  progress,  from  the 
earliest  times  up  to  our  own  day.  But  intellectual  progress 
has  been,  as  I  have  also  said,  in  a  great  measure  confined  to 
certain  nations  thus  especially  favored.  The  greater  part  of 
the  earth's  inhabitants  have  shared  very  scantily  in  that  wealth 
of  knowledge  to  which  the  brightest  and  happiest  intellects 
among  men  have  thus  been  led.  But  though  the  bulk  of 
mankhid  have  thus  had  little  share  in  the  grand  treasures  of 
science  which  are  open  to  the  race,  their  life  has  still  been 
very  diffi3renf  from  that  of  other  animals.  Many  nations, 
though  they  may  not  liavg  been  conspicuous  in  the  history  of 
intellectual  progress,  have  yet  not  been  without  their  place  in 


FURTHER  STATEMENT  OF  THE  DIFFICULTY.    59 

progress  of  other  kinds — in  arts,  in  arms,  and,  above  all,  in 
morals — in  the  recognition  ©f  the  distinction  of  right   and 
wrong  in  human  actions,  and  in  the  practical  application  of  this 
distinction.     Such  a  progress  as  this  has  been  far  more  exten- 
sively aimed  at,  than  a  progress  in  abstract  and  general  ki^owl- 
edge  ;  and,  we  may  venture  to  say,  has  been,  in  many  nations 
and  in  a  very  great  measure,  really  effected.     No  doubt  the 
imperfection  of  this  progress,  and  the  constant  recurrence  of 
events  which  appear  to  counteract  and  reverse  it,  are  so  ob- 
vious and  so  common  as  to  fill  with  grief  and  indignation  the 
minds  of  those  who  regard  such  a  progress  as  the  great  busi- 
ness of  the  human  race  ;  but  yet  still,  looking  at  the  whole 
history  of  the  human  race,  the  progress  is  visible  ;  and  even 
the  grief  and  the  indignation  of  which  we  have  spoken  are  a 
part  of  its   evidences.     There  has  been,  upon  the  whole,  a 
moral  government  of  the  human  race.     The  moral  law,  the 
distinction  of  right  and  wrong,  has  been  established  in  every 
nation  ;  and  penalties  have  been  established  for  wrong-doing. 
The  notion  of  right  and  wrong  has  been  extended,  from  mere 
outward  acts,  to  the  springs  of  action,  to  affection,  desire,  and 
will.     The  course  of  human  affairs  has  generally  been  such, 
that  the  just,  the  truthful,  the  kind,  the  chaste,  the  orderly  por- 
tion of  mankind  have  been  happier  than  the  violent  and  wicked. 
External  wrong  has  been  commonly  punished  by  the  act  of 
human  society.     Internal  sins,  impure  and  dishonest  designs, 
falsehood,  cruelty,  have  very  often  led  to  their  own  punishment, 
by  their  effect  upon  the  guilty  mind  itself.     We  do  not  say 
that  the  moral  government  which  has  prevailed  among  men 
has  been  such,  that  we  can  consider  it  complete  and  final  in 
its  visible  form.     We  see  that  the  aspect  of  things  is  much  the 
contrary  ;  and  we  think  we  see  reasons  why  it  may  be  ex- 
pected  to  be  so.     But  still,  there  has  existed  upon  earth  a  moral 


60  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

government  of  the  human  race,  exercised,  as  we  must  needs 
hold,  loj  the  Creator  of  man ;  partly  through  the  direct  oper- 
ation of  man's  faculties,  affections,  and  emotions ;  and  partly 
through  the  authorities  which,  in  all  ages  and  nations,  the  na- 
ture of  man  has  led  him  to  establish.  Now  this  moral  progress 
and  moral  government  of  the  human  race  is  one  of  the  lead- 
ing facts  on  which  Natural  Religion  is  founded.  We  are  thus 
led  to  regard  God  as  the  Moral  Governor  of  man  ;  not  only 
his  Creator  and  Preserver,  but  his  Lawgiver  and  his  Judge. 
And  the  grounds  on  which  w;e  entertain  this  belief  are  pecu- 
liarly the  human  faculties  of  man,  and  their  operation  in  history 
and  in  society.  The  belief  is  derived  from  the  whole  complex 
nature  of  man — the  working  of  his  Affections,  Desires,  Con- 
victions, Reason,  Conscience,  and  whatever  else  enters  into  the 
production  of  human  action  and  its  consequences.  God  is  seen 
to  be  the  Moral  Governor  of  man  by  evidence  which  is  espe- 
cially derived  from  the  character  of  Man,  and  which  we  could 
not  attempt  to  apply  to  any  other  creature  than  man  without 
making  our  words  altogether  unmeaning.  But  would  it  not 
be  too  bold  an  assumption  to  speak  of  the  Conscience  of  an 
inhabitant  of  Jupiter  1  Would  it  not  be  a  rash  philosophy  to 
assume  the  operation  of  Remorse  or  Self-approval  on  the 
planet,  in  order  that  we  may  extend  to  it  the  moral  govern- 
ment of  God  1  Except  we  can  point  out  something  more  solid 
than  this  to  reason  from,  on  such  subjects,  there  is  no  use  in 
our  attempting  to  reason  at  all.  Our  doctrines  must  be  mere 
results  of  invention  and  imagination.  Here  then,  again,  we 
are  brought  to  the  conviction  that  God  is,  so  far  as  we  yet 
see,  in  an  especial  and  peculiar  manner,  the  Governor  of  the 
earth  and  of  its  human  inhabitants,  in  such  a  way  that  the  like 
government  cannot  be  conceived  to  be  extended  to  other 
planets,  and  other  systems,  without  arbitrary  and  fanciful  as 


FURTHER  STATEMENT  OF  THE  DIFFICULTY.    61 

sumptions ;  assumptions  either  of  unintelligible  differences  with 
incomprehensible  results,  or  of  beings  in  all  respects  human, 
inhabiting  the  most  remote  regions  of  the  universe.  And  here, 
again,  therefore,  we  are  led  to  the  same  difficulty  which  we 
have  already  encountered :  Can  the  earth,  a  small  globe 
among  so  many  millions,  have  been  selected  as  the  scene  of 
this  especially  Divine  Government  1 

10.  That  when  we  attempt  to  extend  our  sympathies  to  the 
inhabitants  of  other  planets  and  other  worlds,  and  to  regard 
them  as  living,  like  us,  under  a  moral  government,  we  are 
driven  to  suppose  them  to  be,  in  all  essential  respects,  human 
beings  like  ourselves,  we  have  proof,  in  all  the  attempts  which 
have  been  made,  with  whatever  license  of  hypothesis  and 
fancy,  t'>  present  to  us  descriptions  and  representations  of  the 
inhabitants  of  other  parts  of  the  universe.  Such  representa- 
tions, though  purposely  made  as  unlike  human  beings  as  the 
imagination  of  man  can  frame  them,  still  are  merely  combi- 
nations, slightly  varied,  of  the  elements  of  human  being  ;  and 
thus  show  us  that  not  only  our  reason,  but  even  our  imagina- 
tion, cannot  conceive  creatures  subjected  to  the  same  govern- 
ment to  which  man  is  subjected,  without  conceiving  them  as 
being  men  of  one  kind  or  other.  A  mere  animal  life,  with  no 
interest  but  animal  enjoyment,  we  may  conceive  as  assuming 
forms  different  from  those  which  appear  in  existing  animal 
races ;  though  even  here,  there  are,  as  we  shall  hereafter  at- 
tempt to  show,  certain  general  principles  which  run  through 
all  animal  life.  But  when  in  addition  to  mere  animal  im- 
pulses, we  assume  or  suppose  moral  and  intellectual  interests, 
we  conceive  them  as  the  moral  and  intellectual  interests  of 
man.  Truth  and  falsehood,  right  and  wrong,  law  and  trans- 
gression, happiness  and  misery,  reward  and  punishment,  are 
the  necessary  elements  of  all  that  can  interest  us — of  all  that 


62  THE    PLURALITY    OF    WORLDS 

we  can  call  Government.  To  transfer  these  to  lupiter  or  to 
Sirius,  is  merely  to  imagine  those  bodies  to  be  a  sort  of  island 
of 'Formosa,  or  new  Atlantis,  or  Utopia,  or  Platonic  Polity, 
or  something  of  the  like  kind.  The  boldest  and  most  reso- 
lute attempts  to  devise  some  life  different  from  human  life, 
have  not  produced  anything  more  different  than  romance- 
writers  and  political  theorists  have  devised  as  a  form  of  human 
life.  And  this  being  so,  there  is  no  more  wisdom  or  philoso- 
phy in  believing  such  assemblages  of  beings  to  exist  in  Jupiter 
or  Sirius,  without  evidence,  than  in  believing  them  to  exist  in 
the  island  of  Formosa,  with  the  like  absence  of  evidence. 

11.  Any  examination  of  what  has  been  written  on  this  sub- 
ject would  show  that,  in  speculating  about  moral  and  intellec- 
tual beings  in  other  regions  of  the  universe,  we  merely  make 
them  to  be  men  in  another  place.  With  regard  to  the  plants 
and  animals  of  other  planets,  fancy  has  freer  play  ;  but  man 
cannot  conceive  any  moral  creature  who  is  not  man.  Thus 
Fontenelle,  in  his  Dialogues  on  the  Plurality  of  Worlds^  makes 
the  mhabitants  of  Venus  possess,  in  an  exaggerated  degree,  the 
characteristics  of  the  men  of  the  warm  climates  of  the  earth. 
They  are  like  the  Moors  of  Grenada  ;  or  rather,  the  Moors  of 
Grenada  would  be  to  them  as  cold  as  Greenlanders  and  Lap- 
landers to  us.  And  the  inhabitants  of  Mercury  have  so  much 
vivacity,  that  they  would  pass  with  us  for  insane.  "  Enfin 
c'est  dans  Mercure  que  sont  les  Petites-Maisons  de  I'Univers." 
Tlie  inhabitants  of  Jupiter  and  Saturn  are  immensely  slow  and 
phlegmatic.  And  though  he  and  other  writers  attempt  to 
make  these  inhabitants  of  remote  regions  in  some  respects  su- 
perior to  man,  telling  us  that  instead  of  only  five  senses,  they 
may  have  six,  or  ten,  or  a  hundred,  still  these  are  mere  words 
which  convey  no  meaning ;  and  the  great  astronomer  Bessel 
had  reason  to  say,  that  those  who  imagined  inhabitants  in  the 


FURTHER     STATEMENT     OF     THE     DIFFICULTY.  63 

Moon  and  Planets,  supposed  them,  in  spite  of  all  their  protest- 
ations, as  like  to  men  as  one  egg  to  another.* 

12.  But  there  is  one  step  more,  which  we  still  have  to 
make,  in  order  to  bring  out  this  difficulty  in  its  full  force.  As 
we  have  said,  the  moral  law  has  been,  to  a  certain  extent, 
established,  developed,  and  enforced  among  men.  But,  as  I 
have  also  said,  looking  carefully  at  the  law,  and  at  the  degree 
of  man's  obedience  to  it,  and  at  the  operation  of  the  sanctions 
by  which  it  is  supported,  we  cannot  help  seeing,  that  man's 
knowledge  of  the  law  is  imperfect,  his  conviction  of  its  au- 
thority feeble,  his  transgressions  habitual,  their  punishment 
and  consequences  obscure.  When,  therefore,  we  regard  God, 
as  the  Lawgiver  and  Judge  of  man,  it  will  not  appear  strange 
to  us,  that  he  should  have  taken  some  mode  of  promulgating 
his  Law,  and  announcing  his  Judgments,  in  addition  to  that 
ordinary  operation  of  the  faculties  of  man,  of  which  we  have 
spoken.  Revealed  Religion  teaches  us  that  he  has  done  so  : 
that  from  the  first  placing  of  the  race  of  man  upon  the  earth, 
it  was  his  purpose  to  do  so  :  that  by  his  dealing  with  the  race 
of  man  in  the  earlier  times,  and  at  various  intervals,  he  made 
preparation  for  the  mission  of  a  special  Messenger,  whom,  in 
the  fulness  of  time,  he  sent  upon  the  earth  in  the  form  of  a 
man ;  and  who  both  taught  men  the  Law  of  God  in  a  purer 
and  clearer  form  than  any  in  which  it  had  yet  been  given ; 
and  revealed  His  purpose,  of  rewards  for  obedience,  and 
punishments  for  disobedience,  to  be  executed  in  a  state  cf 
being  to  which  this  human  life  is  only  an  introduction ;  and 
established  the  means  by  which  the  spirit  of  man,  when  alien- 
ated from  God  by  transgression,  may  be  again  reconciled  to 
Him.  The  arrival  of  this  especial  Messenger  of  Holiness, 
Judgment,  and  Redemption,  forms  the  great  event  in  the  his- 

*  Populare  Vorlesimgen  iiber  Wisftenschaffcliche  Gegenstande,  p.  31. 


64  THE     PLURALITY     OF     Yv^ORLDS. 

tory  of  the  earth,  considered  in  a  religious  view,  as  the  abode 
of  God's  servants.  It  was  attended  with  the  sufferings  and 
cruel  death  of  the  Divine  Messenger  thus  sent ;  was  preceded 
by  prophetic  announcements  of  his  coming ;  and  the  history 
of  the  world,  for  the  two  thousand  years  that  have  since 
elapsed,  has  been  in  a  great  measure  occupied  with  the  conse- 
quences of  that  advent.  Such  a  proceeding  shows,  of  course, 
that  God  has  an  especial  care  for  the  race  of  man.  Tlie  earth, 
thus  selected  as  the  theatre  of  such  a  scheme  of  Teaching  and 
of  Redemption,  camiot,  in  the  eyes  of  any  one  who  accepts 
this  Christian  faith,  be  regarded  as  being  on  a  level  with  any 
other  domiciles.  It  is  the  Stage  of  the  great  Drama  of  God's 
Mercy  and  Man's  Salvation  ;  the  Sanctuary  of  the  Universe ; 
the  Holy  Land  of  Creation ;  the  Royal  Abode,  for  a  time  at 
least,  of  the  Eternal  King.  This  being  the  character  which 
has  thus  been  conferred  upon  it,  how  can  we  assent  to  the  as- 
sertions of  Astronomers,  when  they  tell  us  that  it  is  only  one 
among  millions  of  similar  habitations,  not  distinguishable 
from  them,  except  that  it  is  smaller  than  most  of  them  that 
we  can  measure ;  confused  and  rude  in  its  naaterials  like  them  ? 
Or  if  we  believe  the  Astronomers,  will  not  such  a  belief  lead 
us  to  doubt  the  truth  of  the  great  scheme  of  Christianity, 
which  thus  makes  the  earth  the  scene  of  a  special  dispen- 
sation. 

13.  This  is  the  form  in  which  Chalmers  has  taken  up  the 
argument.  This  is  the  difficulty  which  he  proposes  to  solve  ; 
or  rather,  (such  being  as  I  have  said  the  mode  in  which  he 
presents  the  subject,)  the  objection  which  he  proposes  to  re- 
fute. It  is  the  bearing  of  the  Astronomical  discoveries  of 
modern  times,  not  upon  the  doctrines  of  Natural  Religion,  but 
upon  the  scheme  of  Christianity,  which  he  discusses.  And 
the  question  which  he  supposes  his  opponent  to  propound,  as 


FURTHER     STATEMENT     OF     THE     DIFFICULTY.  Q5 

an  objection  to  the  Christian  scheme,  is  : — How  is  it  consist- 
ent with  the  dignity,  the  impartiality,  the  comprehensiveness, 
the  analogy  of  God's  proceedings,  that  he  should  make  so 
special  and  pre-eminent  a  provision  for  the  salvation  of  the 
inhabitants  of  this  Earth,  where  there  are  such  myriads  of 
other  worlds,  all  of  which  may  require  the  like  provision,  and 
all  of  which  have  an  equal  claim,  to  their  Creator's  care  1 

14.  The  answer  which  Chalmers  gives  to  this  objection,  is 
one  drawn,  in  the  first  instance,  from  our  ignorance.  He 
urges  that,  when  the  objector  asserts  that  other  worlds  may 
have  the  like  need  with  our  own,  of  a  special  provision  for 
the  rescue  of  their  inhabitants  from  the  consequences  of  the 
transgression  of  God's  laws,  he  is  really  making  an  assertion 
without  the  slightest  foundation.  Not  only  does  Science  not  give 
us  any  information  on  such  subjects,  but  the  whole  spirit  of 
the  scientific  procedure,  which  has  led  to  the  knowledge  which 
we  possess,  concerning  other  planets  and  other  systems,  is 
utterly  opposed  to  our  making  such  assumptions,  respecting 
other  worlds,  as  the  objection  involves.  Modern  Science,  in 
proportion  as  she  is  confident  when  she  has  good  grounds 
of  proof,  however  strange  may  be  the  doctrines  proved,  is  not 
only  diffident,  but  is  utterly  silent,  and  abstains  even  from 
guessing,  when  she  has  no  grounds  of  proof.  Chalmers  takes 
Newton's  reasoning,  as  offering  a  special  example  of  this 
mixed  temper,  of  courage  in  following  the  evidence,  and 
temperance  in  not  advancing  when  there  is  no  evidence.  He 
puts,  in  opposition  to  this,  the  example  of  the  true  philosophi- 
cal temper, — a  supposed  rash  theorist,  who  should  make  un- 
warranted suppositions  and  assumptions,  concerning  matters 
to  which  our  scientific  evidence  does  not  reach  ; — the  animals 
and  plants,  for  instance,  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  planet 
Jupiter,     No  one,  he  says,  would  more  utterly  reject  and  con- 


66  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

demn  such  speculations  than  Newton,  who  first  rightly  ex- 
plained the  motion  of  Jupiter  and  of  his  attendant  satellites, 
about  which  Science  can  pronounce  her  truths.  And  thus, 
nothing  can  be  more  opposite  to  the  real  spirit  of  modern 
science,  and  astronomy  in  particular,  than  arguments,  such  as* 
we  have  stated,  professing  to  be  drawn  from  science  and  from 
astronomy.  Since  we  know  nothing  about  the  inhabitants  of 
Jupiter,  true  science  requires  that  we  say  and  suppose  nothing 
about  them ;  still  more  requires  that  we  should  not,  on  the 
ground  of  assumptions  made  with  regard  to  them,  and  other 
supposed  groups  of  living  creatures,  reject  a  belief,  founded  on 
direct  and  positive  proofs,  such  as  is  the  belief  in  the  truths 
of  Natural  and  of  Revealed  Religion. 

15.  To  this  argument  of  Chalmers,  we  may  not  only  give 
our  fall  assent,  but  we  may  venture  to  suggest,  in  accordance 
with  what  we  have  already  said,  that  the  argument,  when  so 
put,  is  not  stated  in  all  its  legitimate  force.  The  assertion 
that  the  inhabitants  of  Jupiter  have  the  same  need  as  we  have, 
of  a  special  dispensation  for  their  preservation  from  moral 
ruin,  is  not  only  as  merely  arbitrary  an  assumption,  as  any 
assertion  could  be,  founded  on  a  sujDposed  knowledge  of  an 
analogy  between  the  botany  of  Jupiter,  and  the  botany  of  the 
earth ;  but  it  is  a  great  deal  more  so.  There  may  be  circum- 
stances which  may  afford  some  reason  to  believe  that  some- 
thing of  the  nature  of  vegetables  grows  on  the  surface  of 
Jupiter ;  for  instance,  if  we  find  that  he  is  a  solid  globe  sur- 
rounded by  an  atmosphere,  vapor,  clouds,  showers.  But,  as 
we  have  already  said,  there  is  an  immeasurable  distance  be- 
tween the  existence  of  unprogressive  tribes  of  organized  crea- 
tures, plants,  or  even  animals,  and  the  existence  of  a  progress- 
i\ie  creature,  which  can  pass  through  the  conditions  of  receiving, 
discerning,  disobeying,  and  obeying  a  moral  law ;  which  can 


FURTHER  STATEMENT  OF  THE  DIFFICULTY.    67 

be  estranged  from  God,  and  then  reconciled  to  him.  To  as- 
sume, without  further  proof,  that  there  are,  in  Jupiter,  crea- 
tures of  such  a  nature  that  these  descriptions  apply  to  them, 
is  a  far  bolder  and  more  unphilosophical  assumption,  than  any 
that  the  objector  could  make  concerning  the  botany  of  Jupiter ; 
and  therefore,  the  objection  thus  supposed  to  be  drawn  from 
our  supposed  knowledge,  is  very  properly  answered  by  an  ap- 
peal to  our  really  utter  ignorance,  as  to  tjie  points  on  which 
the  argument  rests. 

16.  This  appeal  to  our  ignorance  is  the  main  feature  in  Chal- 
mer's  reasonings,  so  far  as  the  argument  on  the  one  side  or  the 
other  has  reference  to  science.  Chalmers,  indeed,  pursues  the 
argument  into  other  fields  of  speculation.  He  urges,  that  not 
only  we  have  no  right  to  assume  that  other  worlds  require  a  re- 
demption of  the  same  kind  as  that  provided  for  man,  but  that 
the  very  reverse  may  be  the  case.  Man  may  be  the  only 
transgressor ;  and  this,  the  only  world  that  needed  so  great  a 
provision  for  its  salvation.  We  read  in  Scripture,  expressions 
which  imply  that  other  beings,  besides  man,  take  an  interest  in 
the  salvation  of  man.  May  not  this  be  true  of  the  inhabitants 
of  other  worlds,  if  such  inhabitants  there  be  1  These  specula- 
tions he  pursues  to  a  considerable  length,  with  great  richness 
of  imagination,  and  great  eloquence.  But  the  suppositions  on 
which  they  proceed  are  too  loosely  connected  with  the  results 
of  science,  to  make  it  safe  for  us  to  dwell  upon  them  here. 

17.  I  conceive,  as  I  have  said,  that  the  argument  with  which 
Chalmers  thus  deals  admits  of  answers,  also  drawn  from  mod- 
ern science,  which  to  many  persons  will  seem  more  complete 
than  that  which  is  thus  drawn  from  our  ignorance.  But  before 
I  proceed  to  bring  forward  these  answers,  which  will  require 
several  steps  of  explanation,  I  have  one  or  two  remarks  still 
to  make. 


68  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

18.  Undoubtedly  they  who  believe  firmly  both  that  the  earth 
has  been  the  scene  of  a  Divine  Plan  for  the  benefit  of  man, 
and  also  that  other  bodies  in  the  universe  are  inhabited  by 
creatures  who  may  have  an  interest  in  such  a  Plan,  are  natu- 
rally led  to  conjectures  and  imaginations  as  to  the  nature  and 
extent  of  that  interest.  The  religious  poet,  in  his  Night 
Thoughts,  interrogates  the  inhabitants  of  a  distant  star,  whether 
their  race  too  has,  in  its  history,  events  resembling  the  fall  of 
m  an,  and  the  redemption  of  m^an. 

Enjoy  your  happy  realms  their  golden  age  ? 
And  liad  your  Eden  an  abstemious  Eve  ? 
Or,  if  your  mother  fell  are  you  redeemed? 
And  if  redeemed,  is  your  Redeemer  scorned  ? 

And  such  imaginations  may  be  readily  allowed  to  the 
preacher  or  the  poet,  to  be  employed  in  order  to  impress  upon 
man  the  conviction  of  his  privileges,  his  thanklessness,  his  in- 
consistency, and  the  like.  But  every  form  in  which  such  re- 
flections can  be  put  shows  how  intimately  they  depend  upon  the 
nature  and  history  of  man.  And  when  such  reflections  are 
made  the  source  of  difficulty  or  objection  in  the  way  of  relig- 
ious thought,  and  when  these  difficulties  and  objections  are  rep- 
resented as  derived  from  astronomical  discoveries,  it  cannot 
be  superfluous  to  inquire  whether  astronomy  has  really  dis- 
covered any  ground  for  such  objections.  To  some  persons  it 
may  be  more  grateful  to  remedy  one  assumption  by  another : 
the  assumption  of  moral  agents  in  other  worlds,  by  the  as- 
sumption of  some  operation  of  the  Divine  Plan  in  other 
worlds.  But  since  many  persons  find  great  difficulty  in  con- 
ceiving such  an  operation  of  the  Divine  Plan  in  a  satisfactory 
way ;  and  many  persons  also  think  that  to  make  such  unau- 
thorized and  fanciful  assumptions  with  regard  to  the  Divine 


FURTHEB  STATEMENT  OF  THE  DIFFICULTY.    69 

Plans  for  the  government  of  God's  creatures  is  a  violation  of 
the  humility,  submission  of  mind,  and  spirit  of  reverence 
which  religion  requires  ;  it  ma j  be  useful  if  we  can  show  that 
such  assumptions,  with  regard  to  the  Divine  Plans,  are  called 
forth  by  assumptions  equally  gratuitous  on  the  other  side : 
that  Astronomy  no  more  reveals  to  us  extra-terrestrial  moral 
agents,  than  Eeligion  reveals  to  us  extra-terrestrial  Plans  of 
Divine  government.  Chalmers  has  spoken  of  the  rashness  of 
making  assumptions  on  such  subjects  without  proof;  leaving 
it  however,  to  be  supposed,  that  though  astronomy  does  not 
supply  proof  of  intelligent  inhabitants  of  other  parts  of  the 
universe,  she  yet  does  offer  strong  analogies  in  favor  of  such 
an  opinion.  But  such  a  procedure  is  more  than  rash  :  when 
astronomical  doctrines  are  presented  in  the  form  in  which  they 
have  been  already  laid  before  the  reader,  which  is  the  ordinary 
and  popular  mode  of  apprehending  them,  the  analogies  in  favor 
of  "  other  worlds,"  are  (to  say  the  least)  greatly  exaggerated. 
And  by  taking  into  account  what  astronomy  really  teaches  us, 
and  what  we  learn  also  from  other  sciences,  I  shall  attempt  to 
reduce  such  "  analogies"  to  their  true  value. 

14.  The  privileges  of  man,  which  make  the  difficulty  in  as- 
signing him  his  place  in  the  vast  scheme  of  the  Universe,  we 
have  described  as  consisting  in  his  being  an  intellectual^  moral^ 
and  religious  creature.  Perhaps  the  privileges  implied  in  the 
last  term,  and  their  place  in  our  argument,  may  justify  a  word 
more  of  explanation.  Religion  teaches  us  that  there  is  opened 
to  man,  not  only  a  prospect  of  a  life  in  the  presence  of  God, 
after  this  mortal  life,  but  also  the  possibility  and  the  duty  of 
spending  this  life  as  in  the  presence  of  God.  This  is  properly 
the  highest  result  and  manifestation  of  the  effect  of  Religion 
upon  man.  Precisely  because  it  is  this,  it  is  difficult  to  speak 
of  this  effect  withou":  seeming  to  use  the  language  of  enthusi- 


70  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

asm;  and  yet  again,  precisely  because  it  is  so,  our  argument 
would  be  incomplete  without  a  reference  to  it.  There  is  for 
man,  a  possibility  and  a  duty  of  bringing  his  thoughts,  pur- 
poses, and  affections  more  and  more  into  continual  unison  with 
the  will  of  God.  This,  even  Natural  Religion  taught  men,  was 
the  highest  point  at  which  man  could  aim ;  and  Revealed  Re- 
ligion has  still  more  clearly  enjoined  the  duty  of  aiming  at  such 
a  condition.  The  means  of  a  progress  towards  such  a  state 
belong  to  the  Religion  of  the  heart  and  mind.  They  include 
a  constant  purification  and  elevation  of  the  thoughts,  affections, 
and  will,  wrought  by  habits  of  religious  reflection  and  medita- 
tion, of  prayer  and  gratitude  to  God.  Without  entering  into 
further  explanation,  all  religious  persons  will  agree  that  such  a 
progress  is,  under  happy  influences,  possible  for  man,  and  is  the 
highest  condition  to  which  he  can  attain  in  this  life.  Whatever 
names  may  have  been  applied  at  different  times  to  the  steps  of 
such  a  progress ; — the  cultivation  of  the  divine  nature  in  us  ; 
resignation  ;  devotion  ;  holiness ;  union  with  God ;  living  in 
God,  and  with  God  in  us ; — religious  persons  will  not  doubt 
that  there  is  a  reality  of  internal  state  corresponding  to  these 
expressions  ;  and  that,  to  be  capable  of  elevation  into  the  con- 
dition which  these  expressions  indicate,  is  one  of  the  especial 
privileges  of  man.  Man's  soul,  considered  especially  as  the 
subject  of  God's  government,  is  often  called  his  Spirit;  and 
that  man  is  capable  of  such  conformity  to  the  will  of  God,  and 
approximation  to  Him,  is  sometimes  expressed  by  speaking  of 
him  as  a  spiritual  creature.  And  though  the  privilege  of  be- 
ing, or  of  being  capable  of  becoming,  in  this  sense,  a  spiritual 
creature,  is  a  part  of  man's  religious  privileges  ;  we  may  some- 
times be  allowed  to  use  this  additional  expression,  in  order  to  re- 
mind the  reader,  how  great  those  religious  privileges  are,  and  how 
close  is  the  relation  between  man  and  God,  which  they  imply. 


FURTHER     STATEMENT     OF     THE     DIFFICULTY.         71 

15.  We  have  given  a  view  of  the  peculiar  character  of  man's 
condition,  which  seem  to  claim  for  him  a  nature  and  place 
unique  and  incapable  of  repetition,  in  the  scheme  of  the  uni- 
verse ;  and  to  this  view  astronomy,  exhibiting  to  us  the 
habitation  of  man  as  only  one  among  many  similar  abodes, 
offers  an  objection.  We  are,  therefore,  now  called  upon,  I 
conceive,  to  proceed  to  exhibit  the  answer  which  a  somewhat 
different  view  of  modern  science  suggests  to  this  difficulty  or 
objection. 

For  this  purpose,  we  must  begin  by  regarding  the  Earth  in 
another  point  of  view,  different  from  that  hitherto  considered 
by  us. 


CHAPTEE    V. 

GEOLOGY. 

1.  Man,  as  I  trust  has  been  made  apparent  to  the  conscious- 
ness and  conviction  of  the  reader,  is  an  intelligent,  moral,  re- 
ligious, and  spiritual  creature ;  and  we  have  to  discuss  the 
difficulty,  or  perplexity,  or  objection,  which  arises  in  our 
minds,  when  we  consider  such  a  creature  as  occupying  an 
habitation,  which  is  but  one  among  many  globes  apparently 
equally  fitted  to  be  the  dwelling-places  of  living  things— a 
mere  speck  in  the  immensity  of  creation — an  atom  among 
such  a  vast  array  of  m^aterial  structures — a  world,  as  we  needs 
must  deem  it,  among  millions  of  other  objects  which  appear 
to  have  an  equal  claim  to  be  regarded  as  worlds. 

2.  The  difficulty  appears  to  be  great,  either  way.  Can  the 
earth  alone  be  the  theatre  of  such  intelligent,  moral,  religious, 
and  spiritual  action  1  On  the  other  hand,  can  we  conceive  such 
action  to  go  on  in  the  other  bodies  of  the  universe  1  If  we 
take  the  latter  alternative,  we  must  people  other  planets  and 
other  systems  with  men  such  as  we  are,  even  as  to  their  his- 
tory. For  the  intellectual  and  moral  condition  of  man  implies 
a  history  of  the  species ;  and  the  view  of  man's  condition 
which  religion  presents,  not  only  involves  a  scheme  of  which 
the  history  of  the  human  race  is  a  part,  but  also  asserts  a  pe- 


GEOLOGY.  73 

euliar  reference  had,  in  the  provisions  of  God,  to  the  nature  of 
■man ;  and  even  a  peculiar  relation  and  connection  between 
the  human  and  the  divine  nature.  To  extend  such  suppositions 
to  other  worlds  would  be  a  proceeding  so  arbitrary  and  fan- 
ciful, that  we  are  led  to  consider  whether  the  alternative  sup- 
position may  not  be  more  admissible.  The  alternative  sup- 
position is,  that  man  is,  in  an  especial  and  eminent  manner, 
the  object  of  God's  care  ;  that  his  place  in  the  creation  is,  not 
that  he  merely  occupies  one  among  millions  of  similar  domiciles 
provided  in  boundless  profusion  by  the  Creator  of  the  Universe, 
but  that  he  is  the  servant,  subject,  and  child  of  God,  in  a  way 
unique  and  peculiar ;  that  his  being  a  spiritual  creature,  (in- 
cluding his  other  attributes  in  the  highest  for  the  sake  of  brev- 
ity,) makes  him  belong  to  a  spiritual  world,  which  is  not  to  be 
judged  of  merely  by  analogies  belonging  to  the  material  uni- 
verse. 

3.  Between  these  two  difficulties  the  choice  is  embarrassing, 
and  the  decision  must  be  unsatisfactory,  except  we  can  find 
some  further  ground  of  judgment.  But  perhaps .  this  is  not 
hopeless.  We  have  hitherto  referred  to  the  evidence  and  an- 
alogies supplied  by  one  science,  namely,  astronomy.  But 
there  are  other  sciences  which  give  us  information  concerning 
the  nature  and  history  of  the  earth.  From  some  of  these, 
perhaps,  we  may  obtain  some  knowledge  of  the  place  of  the 
earth  in  the  scheme  of  creation — ^how  far  it  is,  in  its  present 
condition,  a  thing  unique,  or  only  one  thing  among  many  like 
it.  Any  science  which  supplies  us  with  evidence  or  informa- 
tion on  this  head,  will  give  us  aid  in  forming  a  judgment  upon 
the  question  under  our  consideration.  To  such  sciences,  then, 
we  will  turn  our  attention. 

One  science  has  employed  itself  in  investigating  the  nature 
and  history  of  the  earth  by  an  examination  of  the  materials 

4 


74  THE     PLURALITl     OF     WORLDS. 

of  which  it  is  composed  -,  namely,  Geology.     Let  its  call  to 
mind  some  of  the  results  at  which  this  science  has  arrived. 

4.  A  very  little  attention  to  what  is  going  on  among  tl  e 
materials  of  which  the  earth's  surface  is  composed,  suffices  to 
show  us  that  there  are  causes  of  change  constantly  and  effect- 
ually at  work.  The  earth's  surface  is  composed  of  land  and 
water,  hills  and  valleys,  rocks  and  rivers.  But  these  features 
undergo  change,  and  produce  change  in  each  other.  The 
mountain-rivers  cut  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  ravines  in 
which  they  run ;  they  break  up  the  rocks  over  which  they 
rush,  use  the  fragments  as  implements  of  further  destruction, 
pile  them  up  in  sloping  mounds  where  the  streams  issue  from 
the  mountains,  spread  them  over  the  plains,  fill  up  lakes  with 
sediment,  push  into  the  sea  great  deltas.  The  sea  batters  the 
cliffs  and  eats  away  the  land,  and  again,  forms  banks  and 
islands  where  there  had  been  deep  water.  Volcanoes  pour  out 
streams  of  lava,  which  destroy  the  vegetation  over  which  they 
flow,  and  which  again,  after  a  series  of  years,  are  themselves 
clothed  with  vegetation.  Earthquakes  throw  down  tracts  of 
land  beneath  the  sea,  and  elevate  other  tracts  from  the  bottom 
of  the  ocean.  These  agencies  are  everywhere  manifest ;  and 
though  at  a  given  moment,  at  a  given  spot,  their  effect  may 
seem  to  us  almost  imperceptible,  too  insignificant  to  be  taken 
account  of,  yet  in  a  long  course  of  years  almost  every  place 
has  undergone  considerable  changes.  Rivers  have  altered 
their  courses,  lakes  have  become  plains,  coasts  have  been  swept 
away  or  have  become  inland  districts,  rich  valleys  have  been 
ravaged  by  watery  or  fiery  deluges,  the  country  has  in  some 
way  or  other  assumed  a  new  face.  The  present  aspect  of  the 
earth  is  in  some  degree  different  from  what  it  was  a  few  thou- 
sand years  ago. 

5.  But  yet,  in  truth,  the  changes  of  which  we  thus  speak 


GEOLOGY.  75 

have  not  been  very  considerable.  The  forms  of  countries,  ihe 
lines  of  coasts,  the  ranges  of  mountains,  the  groups  of  valleys, 
the  courses  of  rivers,  are  much  the  same  now  as  they  were  in 
ancient  times.  The  face  of  the  earth,  since  man  has  had  any 
knowledge  of  it,  may  have  undergone  some  change,  but  the 
changeable  has  borne  a  small  proportion  to  the  permanent. 
Changes  have  taken  place,  and  are  taking  place,  but  they  do 
not  take  place  rapidly.  The  ancient  earth  and  the  modern 
earth  are,  in  all  their  main  physical  features,  identical ;  and 
we  must  go  backwards  through  a  considerably  larger  interval 
than  that  which  carries  us  back  to  what  ^YQ  usually  term  an- 
tiquity/, before  we  are  led,  by  the  operation  of  causes  now  at 
work,  to  an  aspect  of  the  earth's  surface  very  different  from 
that  which  it  now  presents. 

6.  Tor  instance,  rivers  do,  no  doubt,  more  or  less  alter,  in 
the  course  of  years,  by  natural  causes.  The  Rhine,  the  Rhone, 
the  Po,  the  Danube,  have,  certainly,  during  the  last  four  thou- 
sand years,  silted  up  their  beds  in  level  places,  expanded  the 
deltas  at  their  mouths,  changed  the  channels  by  which  they 
enter  the  sea ;  and  very  probably,  in  their  upper  parts,  altered 
the  forms  of  their  waterfalls  and  of  their  shin<2;le  beds.  Yet 
even  if  we  were  thus  to  go  backwards  ten  thousand,  or  twenty, 
or  thirty  thousand  years,  (setting  aside  great  and  violent  causes 
of  change,  as  earthquakes,  volcanic  eruptions,  and  the  like,) 
the  general  form  and  course  of  these  rivers,  and  of  the  ranges 
of  mountains  in  which  they  flow,  would  not  be  different  from 
what  it  is  now.  And  the  same  may  be  said  of  coasts  and 
islands,  seas  and  bays.  The  present  geography  of  the  earth 
may  be,  and  from  all  the  evidence  which  we  have,  must  be, 
very  ancient,  according  to  any  measures  of  antiquity  which 
can  apply  to  human  affairs. 

7.  But  yet  the  further  examination  of  the  materials  of  the 


76  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

earth  carries  us  to  a  view  beyond  this.  Though  the  general 
forms  of  the  land  and  the  waters  of  continents  and  seas,  were, 
several  thousand  years  ago,  much  the  same  as  they  now  are  ; 
yet  it  was  not  always  so.  We  have  clear  evidence  that  large 
tracts  which  are  now  dry  ground,  were  formerly  the  bed  of 
the  ocean ;  and  these,  not  tracts  of  the  shore,  where  the  vary- 
ing warfare  of  sea  and  land  is  still  going  on,  but  the  very 
central  parts  of  great  continents  ;  the  Alps,  the  Pyrenees,  the 
Himalayas.  For  not  only  are  the  rocks  of  which  these  great 
mountain-chains  consist,  of  such  structure  that  they  appear  to 
have  been  formed  as  layers  of  sediment  at  the  bottom  of 
water ;  but  also,  these  layers  contain  vast  accumulations  of 
shells,  or  impressions  of  shells,  and  other  remains  of  marine 
animals.  And  these  appearances  are  not  few,  limited,  or 
partial.  The  existence  of  such  marine  remains,  in  the  solid 
substance  of  continents  and  mountains,  is  a  general,  predomi- 
nant, and  almost  universal  fact,  in  every  part  of  the  earth. 
Nor  is  any  other  way  of  accounting  for  this  fact  admissible, 
than  that  those  materials  really  have,  at  some  time,  formed 
bottoms  of  seas.  The  various  other  conjectures  and  hypoth- 
eses, which  were  put  forward  on  this  subject,  when  the  amount, 
extent,  multiplicity,  and  coherence  of  the  phenomena  were  not 
yet  ascertained,  and  when  their  natural  history  was  not  yet 
studied,  cannot  now  be  considered  as  worthy  of  the  smallest 
regard.  That  many  of  our  highest  hills  are  formed  of  materi- 
als raised  from  the  depths  of  ocean,  is  a  proposition  which 
cannot  be  doubted,  by  any  one,  who  fairly  examines  the  evi- 
dence which  nature  offers. 

8.  If  we  take  this  proposition  only,  we  cannot  immediately 
connect  it  with  our  knowledge  respecting  the  surface  of  the 
earth  in  its  present  form.  We  learn  that  what  is  now  land, 
has  been  sea ;  and  we  may  suppose  (since  it  is  natural  to  as- 


GEOLOGY.  77 

sume  that  the  bulk  of  the  sea  has  not  much  changed)  that 
what  is  now  sea  was  formerly  land.  But,  except  we  can  learn 
something  of  the  manner  in  which  this  change  took  place,  we 
cannot  make  any  use  of  our  knowledge.  Was  the  change 
sudden,  or  gradual ;  abrupt,  or  successive ;  brief,  or  long- 
continuing  1 

9.  To  these  questions,  the  further  study  of  the  facts  enables 
us  to  return  answers  with  great  confidence.  The  change  or 
changes  which  produced  the  effects  of  which  we  have  spoken 
— the  conversion  of  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  into  the  centre 
of  our  greatest  continents  and  highest  mountains, — were  un- 
doubtedly gradual,  successive,  and  long  continued.  We 
must  state  very  briefly  the  grounds  on  which  we  make  this 
assertion. 

10.  The  masses  which  form  our  mountain-chains,  offer  evi- 
dence, as  I  have  said,  that  they  were  deposited  as  sediment  at 
the  bottom  of  a  sea,  and  then  hardened.  They  consist  of  suc- 
cessive layers  of  such  sediment,  making  up  the  whole  mass  of 
the  mountain.  These  layers  are,  of  course,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, a  measure  of  the  time  during  which  the  deposition  of 
sediment  took  place.  The  thicker  the  mass  of  sediment,  the 
more  numerous  and  varied  its  beds,  and  the  longer  period 
must  we  suppose  to  have  been  requisite  for  its  formation. 
Without  making  any  attempt  at  accurate  or  definite  esti- 
mation, which  would  be  to  no  purpose,  it  is  plain  that  a  mass 
of  sedimentary  strata  five  thousand  or  ten  thousand  feet 
thick,  must  have  required,  for  its  deposit,  a  long  course  of 
years,  or  rather,  a  long  course  of  ages. 

11.  But  again  :  on  farther  examination  it  is  found,  that  we 
have  not  merely  one  series  of  sedimentary  deposits,  thus 
forming  our  mountains.  There  are  a  number  of  different 
sciies  of  such  layers  or  strata,  to  be  found  in  different  ranges 


78  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

of  hills,  and  in  the  same  range,  one  series  resting  upon  an- 
other. These  different  series  of  strata  are  distinguishable 
from  one  another  by  their  general  structure  and  appearance, 
besides  more  intimate  characters,  of  which  we  shall  shortly 
have  to  speak.  Each  such  series  appears  to  have  a  certain 
consistency  of  structure  within  itself;  the  layers  of  which  it 
is  composed  being  more  or  less  parallel,  but  the  successive 
series  are  not  thus  always  parallel,  the  lower  ones  being  often 
highly  inclined  and  irregular,  while  the  upper  ones  are  more 
level  and  continuous  :  as  if  the  lower  strata  had  been  broken 
up  and  thrown  into  disorder,  and  then  a  new  series  of  strata 
had  been  deposited  horizontally  on  their  fragments.  But  in 
whatever  way  these  different  sedimentary  series  succeeded 
each  other,  each  series  must  have  required,  as  we  have  seen, 
a  long  period  for  its  formation ;  and  to  estimate  the  length  of 
the  interval  between  the  two  series,  we  have,  at  the  present 
stage  of  our  exposition,  no  evidence. 

12.  But  the  mechanical  structure  of  the  strata,  the  result, 
as  it  seems,  of  aqueous  sedimentary  deposit,  is  not  the  only, 
nor  the  most  important  evidence,  with  regard  to  the  length  of 
time  occupied  by  the  formation  of  the  rocky  layers  which 
now  compose  our  mountains.  As  we  have  said,  they  contain 
shells,  and  other  remains  of  creatures  which  live  in  the  sea 
These  they  contain,  not  in  small  numbers,  scattered  and  de- 
tached, but  in  vast  abundance,  as  they  are  found  in  those  parts 
of  the  ocean  which  is  most  alive  with  them.  There  are  the 
remains  of  oysters  and  other  shell-fish  in  layers,  as  they  live 
at  present  in  the  seas  near  our  shores ;  of  corals,  in  vast 
patches  and  beds,  as  they  now  occur  in  the  waters  of  the 
Pacific ;  of  shoals  of  fishes,  of  many  different  kinds,  in  im- 
mense abundance.  Each  of  these  beds  of  shells,  of  corals,  and 
of  fishes,  must  have  required  many  years,  perhaps  many  cen- 


GEOLOGY.  79 

turies,  for  the  growth  of  the  successive  individuals  and  suc- 
cessive generations  of  which  it  consists :  as  long  a  time, 
perhaps,  as  the  present  inhabitants  of  the  sea  have  lived 
therein :  or  many  times  longer,  if  there  have  been  many  such 
successive  changes.  And  thus,  while  the  present  condition  of 
the  earth  extends  backwards  to  a  period  of  vast  but  unknown 
antiquity ;  we  have,  offered  to  our  notice,  the  evidence  of  a 
series  of  other  periods,  each  of  which,  so  far  as  we  can  judge, 
may  have  been  as  long  or  longer  than  that  during  which  the 
dry  land  has  had  its  present  form. 

13.  But  the  most  remarkable  feature  in  the  evidence  is  yet 
to  come.  We  have  spoken  in  general  of  the  oysters,  and  cor- 
als, and  fishes,  which  occur  in  the  strata  of  our  hills ;  as  if  they 
were  creatures  of  the  same  kinds  which  we  now  designate  by 
those  names.  But  a  more  exact  examination  of  these  remains 
of  organized  beings,  shows  that  this  is  not  so.  The  tribes  of 
animals  which  are  found  petrified  in  our  rocks  are  almost  all 
different,  so  far  as  our  best  natural  historians  can  determine, 
from  those  which  now  live  in  our  existina;  seas.  Thev  are  dif- 
ferent  species ;  different  genera.  The  creatures  which  we  find 
thus  embedded  in  our  mountains,  are  not  only  dead  as  indi- 
viduals, but  extinct  as  species.  They  belonged,  not  only  to  a 
terrestrial  period,  but  to  an  animal  creation,  wliich  is  now  past 
away.  The  earth  is,  it  seems,  a  domicile  which  has  outlasted 
more  than  one  race  of  tenants. 

14.  It  m.ay  seem  rash  and  presumptuous  in  the  natural  his- 
torian to  pronounce  thus  peremptorily  that  certain  forms  of  life 
are  nowhere  to  be  found  at  present,  even  in  the  unfathomable 
and  inaccessible  depths  of  the  ocean.  But  even  if  this  were 
so,  the  proposition  that  the  earth  has  changed  its  inhabitants, 
since  the  rocks  were  formed,  of  which  our  hills  consist,  does 
not  depend  for  its  proof  on  this  assumption.     For  in  the  or- 


80  THE  PLURALITY  OF  WORLDS. 

ganic  bodies  which  our  strata  contain,  we  find  remains,  not  only 
of  marine  animals,  but  of  animals  which  inhabit  the  fresh 
waters,  and  the  land,  and  of  plants.  And  the  examination  of 
Such  remains  having  been  pursued  with  great  zeal,  and  with  all 
the  aids  which  natural  history  can  supply,  the  result  has  been, 
the  proofs  of  a  vast  series  of  different  tribes  of  animals  and 
plants,  which  have  successively  occupied  the  earth  and  the  seas ; 
and  of  which  the  number,  variety,  multiplicity,  and  strange- 
ness, exceed,  by  far,  everything  which  could  have  been  pre- 
viously imagined.  Thus  Cuvier  found,  in  the  limestone  strata 
on  which  Paris  stands,  animals  of  the  most  curious  forms,  com- 
bining in  the  most  wonderful  manner  the  qualities  of  different 
species  of  existing  quadrupeds.  In  another  series  of  strata, 
the  Lias,  which  runs  as  a  band  across  England  from  N.  E.  to 
S.  W.,  we  have  the  remains  of  lizards,  or  lacertine  animals,  dif- 
ferent from  those  which  now  exist,  of  immense  size  and  of  ex- 
traordinary structure,  some  approaching  to  the  form  of  fishes 
{ichthyosaurus) ;  others,  with  the  neck  of  a  serpent ;  others 
with  wings,  like  the  fabled  forms  of  dragons.  Then  beyond 
these,  that  is,  anterior  to  them  in  the  series  of  time,  we  have 
the  immense  collection  of  fossil  plants,  which  occur  in  the  Coal 
Strata  ;  the  shells  and  corals  of  the  Mountain  Limestone ;  the 
peculiar  fishes,  different  altogether  from  existing  fishes,  of  the 
Old  Red  Sandstone ;  and  though,  as  we  descend  lower  and 
lower,  the  traces  of  organic  life  appear  to  be  more  rare  and 
more  limited  in  kind,  yet  still  we  have,  beneath  these,  in  slates 
and  in  beds  of  limestone,  many  fossil  remains,  still  differing 
from  those  which  occur  in  the  higher,  and  therefore,  newer 
strata. 

15.  We  have  no  intention  of  instituting  any  definite  calcula- 
tion with  regard  to  the  periods  of  time  which  this  succession 
of  forms  of  organic  life  may  have  occupied.     This,  indeed,  the 


GEOLOGY.  81 

boldest  geological  speculators  have  not  ventured  to  do.  But 
the  scientific  discoveries  thus  made,  have  a  bearing  upon  the 
analogies  of  creation,  quite  as  important  as  the  discoveries  of 
astronomy.  And  therefore  we  may  state  briefly  some  of  the 
divisions  of  the  series  of  terrestrial  strata  which  have  sug- 
gested themselves  to  geological  inquirers.  At  the  outset  of 
such  speculations,  it  was  conceived  that  the  lower  rocks,  com- 
posed of  granite,  slate,  and  the  like,  had  existed  before  the 
earth  was  peopled  with  living  things ;  and  that  these,  being 
broken  up  into  inclined  positions,  there  were  deposited  upon 
them,  as  the  sediment  of  superincumbent  waters,  strata  more 
horizontal,  containing  organic  remains.  The  former  were  then 
called  Primitive  or  Primary^  the  latter.  Secondary  rocks.  But 
it  was  soon  found  that  this  was  too  sweeping  and  peremptory  a 
division.  Rocks  which  had  been  classed  as  Primary,  were 
found  to  contain  traces  of  life ;  and  hence,  an  intermediate 
class  of  Transition  strata  was  spoken  of  But  this  too  was 
soon  seen  to  be  too  narrow  a  scheme  of  arrangement,  to  take 
in  the  rapidly-accumulating  mass  of  facts,  organic  and  others, 
which  the  geological  record  of  the  earth's  history  disclosed. 
It  appeared  that  among  the  fossil-bearing  strata  there  might  be 
discerned  a  long  series  of  Formations  :  the  term  Formation 
being  used  to  imply  a  collection  of  successive  strata,  which, 
taking  into  account  all  the  evidence,  of  materials,  position,  re- 
lations, and  organic  remains,  appears  to  have  been  deposited 
during  some  one  epoch  or  period ;  so  as  to  form  a  natural 
group,  chronologically  and  physiologically  distinct  from  the 
others.  In  this  way  it  appeared  that,  taking  as  the  highest  part 
of  the  Secondary  series,  the  beds  of  chalk,  which,  marked  by 
characteristic  fossils,  run  through  great  tracts  of  Europe,  with 
other  beds,  of  sand  and  clay,  which  generally  accompany  these ; 
there  was,  below  this  Cretaceous  Formation^  an  Oolitic  Forma- 

4# 


82  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WOULDS. 

Hon,  still  more  largely  diffused,  and  still  more  abundant  in  its 
peculiar  organic  remains.  Below  this,  we  have,  in  England, 
the  JS/'ew  Red  Sandstone  Formation,  which,  in  other  countries, 
is  accompanied  by  beds  abundant  in  fossils,  as  the  Muschelkalh 
of  Germany.  Below  this  again  we  have  the  Coal  Formation, 
and  the  Mountain  Limestone,  with  their  peculiar  fossils.  Be- 
low these,  we  have  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  or  Devonian  Sys- 
tem, with  its  peculiar  fishes  and  other  fossils.  Beneath  these, 
occur  still  numerous  series  of  distinguishable  strata ;  which 
have  been  arranged  by  Sir  Roderick  Murchison  as  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Silurian  formation ;  the  researches  by  which  it 
was  established  having  been  carried  on,  in  the  first  place,  in 
South  Wales,  the  ancient  country  of  the  Silures.  Including 
the  lower  part  of  this  formation,  and  descending  still  lower  in 
order,  is  the  Cambrian  formation  of  Professor  Sedgwick.  And 
since  the  races  of  organic  beings,  as  we  thus  descend  through 
successive  strata,  seem  to  be  fewer  and  fewer  in  their  general 
types,  till  at  last  they  disapear;  these  lower  members  of  the 
geological  series  have  been  termed,  according  to  their  success- 
•on,  Palceozoic,  Protozoic,  and  Hypozoic  or  Azoic.  The  general 
impression  on  the  minds  of  geologists  has  been,  that,  as  we 
descend  in  this  long  staircase  of  natural  steps,  we  are  brought 
in  view  of  a  state  of  the  earth  in  which  life  was  scantily  mani- 
fested, so  as  to  appear  to  be  near  its  earliest  stages. 

16.  Each  of  these  formations  is  of  great  thickness.  Several 
of  the  members  of  each  formation  are  hundreds,  many  of  them 
thousands  of  feet  thick.  Taken  altogether,  they  afford  an  as- 
toundhig  record  of  the  time  during  which  they  must  have  been 
accumulating,  and  during  which  these  successive  groups  of  ani- 
mals must  have  been  brought  into  being,  lived,  and  continued 
their  kinds. 

17.  We  must  add,  that  over  the  Secondary  strata  there  are 


GEOLoay.  bd 

found,  in  patches,  generally  of  more  limited  extent,  another, 
and  of  course,  newer  mass  of  strata,  which  have  been  termed 
Tertiary  Formations.  Of  these,  the  strata,  near  and  under 
Paris,  lying  in  a  hollo vf  of  the  subjacent  strata,  and  hence  termed 
the  Paris  Basin.^  attracted  prominent  notice  in  the  first  place. 
And  these  are  found  to  contain  an  immense  quantity  of  re- 
mains of  animals,  which,  being  well  preserved,  and  being  sub- 
jected to  a  careful  and  scientific  scrutiny  by  the  great  natural- 
ist George  Cuvier,  had  an  eminent  share  in  establishing  in  the 
minds  of  Geologists  the  belief  of  the  extinct  character  of  fossil 
species,  and  of  the  possibility  of  reconstructing,  from  such  re- 
mains, the  animals,  different  from  those  which  now  live,  which 
had  formerly  tenanted  the  earth. 

18.  We  have,  in  this  enumeration,  a  series  of  groups  of 
strata,  each  of  which,  speaking  in  a  general  way,  has  its  own 
population  of  animals  and  plants,  and  is  separated,  by  the  pe- 
culiarities of  these,  from  the  groups  below  and  above  it.  Each 
group  may,  in  a  general  manner,  be  considered  as  a  separate 
creation  of  animal  and  vegetable  forms — creatures  which  have 
lived  and  died,  as  the  races  now  existing  upon  the  earth  live 
and  die ;  and  of  which  the  living  existence  may,  and  according 
to  all  appearance  must,  have  occupied  ages,  and  series  of  ages, 
such  as  have  been  occupied  by  the  present  living  generations 
of  the  earth.  This  series  of  creations,  or  of  successive  periods 
of  life,  is,  no  doubt,  a  very  striking  and  startling  fact,  very  dif- 
ferent from  anything  which  the  imagination  of  man,  in  previous 
stages  of  investigation  of  the  earth's  condition,  had  conceived  ; 
but  still,  is  established  by  evidence  so  complete,  drawn  from 
an  examination  and  knowledge  of  the  structures  of  living  things 
so  exact  and  careful,  as  to  leave  no  doubt  whatever  of  the 
reality  of  the  fact,  on  the  minds  of  those  who  have  attended  to 
the  evidence  ;  founded,  as  it  is,  upon  the  analogies,  offices,  an- 


84  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

atomy,  and  combinations  of  organic  structures.  The  progress 
of  human  knowledge  on  this  subject  has  been  carried  on  and 
established  by  the  same  alternations  of  bold  conjectures  and 
felicitous  confirmations  of  them, — of  minute  researches  and 
large  generalizations, — which  have  given  reality  and  solidity 
to  the  other  most  certain  portions  of  human  knowledge.  That 
the  strata  of  the  earth,  as  we  descend  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest,  are  distinguished  in  general  by  characteristic  or  organic 
fossils,  and  that  these  forms  of  organization  are  different  from 
those  which  now  live  on  the  earth,  are  truths  as  clearly  and 
indisputably  established  in  the  minds  of  those  who  have  the 
requisite  knowledge  of  geology  and  natural  history,  as  that  the 
planets  revolve  round  the  sun,  and  satellites  round  the  planets. 
That  these  epochs  of  creation  are  something  quite  different  from 
anything  which  we  now  see  taking  place  on  the  earth,  no  more 
disturbs  the  belief  of  those  facts,  which  scientific  explorers  en- 
tertain, than  the  seemingly  obvious  difference  between  the 
nebulae  which  are  regarded  as  yet  unformed  planetary  systems, 
and  the  solar  system  to  which  our  earth  belongs,  disturbs  the 
belief  of  astronomers,  that  such  nebulae,  as  well  as  our  system, 
really  exist.  Indeed  we  may  say,  as  we  shall  hereafter  see, 
that  the  fact  of  our  earth  having  passed  through  the  series  of 
periods  of  organic  life  which  geologists  recognize,  is,  hitherto, 
incomparably  better  established,  than  the  fact  that  the  nebulae, 
or  any  of  them,  are  passing  through  a  series  of  changes,  such 
as  may  lead  to  a  system  like  ours ;  as  some  eminent  astrono- 
mers in  modern  times  have  held.  In  this  respect,  the  history 
of  the  world,  and  its  place  in  the  universe,  are  far  more  clearly 
learnt  from  geology  than  from  astronomy. 

19.  But  with  regard  to  this  series  of  Organic  Creations,  if, 
for  the  sake  of  brevity,  we  may  call  them  so ;  we  may  nat- 
turally  ask,  in  what  manner,  by  what  agencies,  at  what  inter- 


GEOLOGY.  85 

vals,  they  succeeded  each  other  on  the  earth  1  Now,  do  the 
researches  of  geologists  give  us  any  information  on  these 
points,  which  may  be  brought  to  bear  upon  our  present  specu- 
lations ?  If  we  ask  these  questions,  we  receive,  from  different 
classes  of  geologists,  different  answers.  A  little  while  ago, 
most  geologists  held,  probably  the  greater  number  still  hold, 
that  the  transitions  from  one  of  these  periods  of  organic  life 
to  another,  were  accompanied  generally  by  seasons  of  violent 
disruption  and  mutation  of  the  surface  of  the  earth,  exceeding 
anything  which  has  taken  place  since  the  surface  assumed  its 
present  general  form  ;  in  the  same  proportion  as  the  changes 
of  its  organic  population  go  beyond  any  such  changes  which 
we  can  discern  to  be  at  present  in  operation.  And  there  were 
found  to  be  changes  of  other  kinds,  which  seemed  to  show  that 
these  epochs  of  organic  transition  had  also  been  epochs  of  me- 
chanical violence,  upon  a  vast  and  wonderful  scale.  It  ap- 
peared that,  at  some  of  these  epochs  at  least,  the  strata  pre» 
viously  deposited,  as  if  in  comparative  tranquillity,  had  been 
broken,  thrust  up  from  below,  or  drawn  or  cast  downwards  ; 
so  that  strata  which  must  at  first  have  been  nearly  level,  were 
thrown  into  positions  highly  inclined,  fractured,  set  on  edge, 
contorted,  even  inverted.  Over  the  broken  edges  of  these 
strata,  thus  disturbed  and  fractured,  were  found  vast  accumu- 
lations of  the  fragments  which  such  rude  treatment  might  nat- 
urally produce  ;  these  fragmentary  ruins  being  spread  in  beds 
comparatively  level,  over  the  bristling  edges  of  the  subjacent 
rocks,  as  if  deposited  in  the  fluid  which  had  overwhelmed  the 
previous  structure  ;  and  with  few  or  no  traces  of  life  appear- 
ing in  this  mass  of  ruins  ;  while,  in  the  strata  which  lay  over 
them,  and  which  appeared  to  have  been  the  result  of  quieter 
times,  new  forms  of  organic  life  made  their  appearance  in  vast 
abundance.     Such  is,  for  example,  the  relation  of  the  coal 


86  THE  PLURALITY  OF  WORLDS. 

strata  in  a  great  part  of  England ;  broken  into  innumerable 
basins,  ridges,  valleys,  strips,  and  shreds,  lying  in  all  positions ; 
and  tlien  filled  into  a  sort  of  level,  by  tlie  conglomerate  of  the 
magnesian  limestone,  and  the  superincumbent  red  sandstone 
and  oolites.  In  other  cases  it  appeared  as  if  there  were  the 
means  of  tracing,  in  these  dislocations,  the  agency  of  igneous 
stony  matter,  which  had  been  injected  from  below,  so  as  to 
form  mountain-chains,  or  the  cores  of  such  ;  and  in  which  the 
period  of  the  convulsion  could  be  traced,  by  the  strata  to 
which  the  disturbance  extended ;  those  strata  being  supposed 
to  have  been  deposited  before  the  eruption,  which  were  thrust 
upwards  by  it  into  highly-inclined  positions  ;  while  those  strata 
which,  though  near  to  these  scenes  of  mechanical  violence,  were 
still  comparatively  horizontal,  as  they  had  been  originally  de- 
posited, were  naturally  inferred  to  have  been  formed  in  the 
waters,  after  the  catastrophe  had  passed  away.  By  such  rea- 
sonings as  these,  M.  Elie  de  Beaumont  has  conceived  that  he 
can  ascertain  the  relative  ages  (according  to  the  vast  and  loose 
measurements  of  age  which  belong  to  this  subject)  of  the  prin- 
cipal ranges  of  mountains  of  the  earth's  surface. 

20.  Such  estimations  of  age  can,  indeed,  as  we  have  inti- 
mated, be  only  of  the  widest  and  loosest  kind  ;  yet  they  all 
concur  in  assigning  very  great  and  gigantic  periods  of  time,  as 
having  been  occupied  by  the  events  which  have  formed  the 
earth's  strata,  and  brought  them  into  their  present  position. 
For  not  only  must  there  have  been  long  ages  employed,  as 
we  have  said,  while  the  successive  generations  of  each  group 
of  animals  lived,  and  died,  and  were  entombed  in  the  abraded 
fragments  of  the  then  existing  earth  ;  but  the  other  operations 
which  intervened  between  these  apparently  more  tranquil 
processes,  must  also  have  occupied,  it  would  seem,  long  ages 
at  each  interval.     The  dislocation,  disruption,  and  contortion 


GEOLOGY.  87 

of  the  vast  masses  of  previously  existing  mountains,  hj  which 
their  framework  was  broken  up,  and  its  ruins  covered  with 
beds  of  its  own  rubbish,  many  thousand  feet  thick,  and  gradu- 
ally becoming  less  coarse  and  smoother,  as  the  higher  beds 
were  deposited  upon  the  lower,  could  hardly  take  place,  it  would 
seem,  except  in  hundreds  and  thousands  of  years.     And  then 
again,  all  these  processes  of  deposition,  thus  arranging  loose 
masses  of  material  into  level  beds,  must  have  taken  place  in 
the  bottom  of  deep  oceans  ;  and  the  beds  of  these  oceans  must 
have  been  elevated  into  the  position  of  mountain  ridges  which 
they  now  occupy,  by  some  mighty  operation  of  nature,  which 
must  have  been  comparatively  tranquil,  since  it  has  not  much 
disturbed  those  more  level  beds  ;  and  which,  therefore,  must 
have  been  comparatively  long  continued.     If  we  accept,  as  so 
many  eminent  geologists  have  done,  this  evidence  of  a  vast 
series  of  successive  periods  of  alternate  violence  and  repose, 
we  must  assign  to  each  such  period  a  duration  which  cannot 
but  be  immense,  compared  with  the  periods  of  time  with  which 
we  are  commonly  conversant.     In  the  periods  of  comparative 
quiet,  such  as  now  exist  on  the  earth's  surface,  and  such  as 
seem  to  be  alone  consistent  with  continued  life  and  successive 
generation,  deposits  at  the  bottom  of  lakes  and  seas  take  place, 
it  would  seem,  only  at  the  rate  of  a  few  feet  in  a  year,  or 
perhaps,  in  a  century.     When,  therefore,  we  find  strata,  bear- 
ing evidence  of  such  a  mode  of  deposit,  and  piled  up  to  the 
amount  of  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  feet,  we  are 
naturally  led  to  regard  them  as  the  production  of  myriads  of 
years  ;  and  to  add  new  myriads,  as  often  as,  in  the  prosecution 
of  geological  research,  we  are  brought  to  new  masses  of  strata 
of  the  like  kind  ;  and  again,  to  interpolate  new  periods  of  the 
same  C'*'der,  to  allow  for  the  transition  from  one  such  group  to 
another. 


OQ  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

21.  Nor  is  there  anything  which  need  startle  us,  in  the  ne- 
cessity of  assuming  such  vast  intervals  of  time,  when  we  have 
once  brought  ourselves  to  deal  with  the  question  of  the  an- 
tiquity of  the  earth  upon  scientific  evidence  alone.  For  if 
geology  thus  carries  us  far  backwards  through  thousands,  it 
may  be,  millions  of  years,  astronomy  does  not  offer  the 
smallest  argument  to  check  this  regressive  supposition.  On 
the  contrary,  all  the  most  subtle  and  profound  investigations 
of  astronomers  have  led  them  to  the  conviction,  that  the  mo- 
tions of  the  earth  may  have  gone  on,  as  they  now  go  on,  for 
an  indefinite  period  of  past  time.  There  is  no  tendency  to 
derangement  in  the  mechanism  of  the  solar  system,  so  far  as 
science  has  explored  it.  Minute  inequalities  in  the  movements 
exist,  too  small  to  produce  any  perceptible  effect  on  the  con- 
dition of  the  earth's  surfece ;  and  even  these  inequalities, 
after  growing  up  through  long  cycles  of  ages,  to  an  amount 
barely  capable  of  being  detected  by  astronomical  scrutiny, 
reach  a  maximum ;  and,  diminishing  by  the  same  slow  de- 
grees by  which  they  increased,  correct  themselves,  and  disap- 
pear. The  solar  system,  and  the  earth  as  part  of  it,  constitute, 
so  far  as  we  can  discover,  a  Perpetual  Motion. 

22.  There  is  therefore  nothing,  in  what  we  know  of  the 
Cosmical  conditions  of  our  globe,  to  contradict  the  Terrestrial 
evidence  for  its  vast  antiquity,  as  the  seat  of  organic  life.  If 
for  the  sake  of  giving  definiteness  to  our  notions,  we  were  to 
assume  that  the  numbers  which  express  the  antiquity  of  these 
four  Periods  ; — the  Present  organic  condition  of  the  earth ; 
the  Tertiary  Period  of  geologists,  which  preceded  that ;  the 
Secondary  Period,  "Which  was  anterior  to  that ;  and  the  Pri- 
mary Period  which  preceded  the  Secondary ;  were  on  the  same 
scale  as  the  numbers  which  express  these  four  magnitudes  :— • 
the  magnitude  of  the  Earth  j  that  of  the  Solar  System  com- 


GEOLOGY.  89 

pared  with  the  Earth ;  the  distance  of  the  nearest  Fixed  Stars 
compared  with  the  solar  system  ;  and  the  distance  of  the  most 
remote  Nebulee  compared  with  the  nearest  fixed  stars ;  there 
is,  in  the  evidence  which  geological  science  offers,  nothing  to 
contradict  such  an  assumption. 

23.  And  as  the  infinite  extent  which  we  necessarily  ascribe 
to  space,  allows  us  to  find  room,  without  any  mental  difficulty, 
for  the  vast  distances  which  astronomy  reveals,  and  even 
leaves  us  rather  embarrassed  with  the  infinite  extent  which 
lies  beyond  our  farthest  explorations ;  so  the  infinite  duration 
which  we,  in  like  manner,  necessarily  ascribe  to  past  time, 
makes  it  easy  for  us,  so  far  as  our  powers  of  intellect  are  con- 
cerned, to  go  millions  of  millions  of  years  backwards,  in  order 
to  trace  the  beginning  of  the  earth's  existence, — the  first  step 
of  terrestrial  creation.  It  is  as  easy  for  the  mind  of  man  to 
reason  respecting  a  system  which  is  billions  or  trillions  of 
miles  in  extent,  and  has  endured  through  the  like  number  of 
years,  or  centuries,  as  it  is  to  reason  about  a  system  (the 
earth,  for  instance,)  which  is  forty  million  feet  in  extent,  and 
has  endured  for  a  hundred  thousand  million  of  seconds,  that 
is,  a  few  thousand  years. 

24.  This  statement  is  amply  sufficient  for  the  argument 
which  we  have  to  found  upon  it ;  but  before  I  proceed  to  do 
that,  I  will  give  another  view  which  has  recently  been  adopted 
by  some  geologists,  of  the  mode  in  which  the  successive 
periods  of  creation,  which  geological  research  discloses  to  us, 
have  passed  into  one  another.  According  to  this  new  view, 
we  find  no  sufficient  reason  to  believe  that  the  history  of  the 
earth,  as  read  by  us  in  the  organic  and  mechanical  phenomena 
of  its  superficial  parts,  has  consisted  of  such  an  alternation  of 
periods  of  violence  and  of  repose,  as  we  have  just  attempted 
to  describe.      According  to  these  theorists,  strata  have  sue- 


90  THE    PLURALITY    OF    WORLDS. 

ceeded  strata,  one  group  of  animals  and  plants  has  followed 
another,  through  a  season  of  uniform  change  ;  with  no  greater 
paroxysm  or  catastrophe,  it  may  be,  than  has  occurred  during 
the  time  that  man  has  been  an  observer  of  the  earth.  It  may 
be  asked,  how  is  this  consistent  with  the  phenomena  which  we 
have  described ; — with  the  vast  masses  of  ruin,  which  mark 
the  end  of  one  period  and  the  beginning  of  another,  as  is  the 
case  in  passing  from  the  coal  measures  of  England  to  the 
superincumbent  beds ; — ^with  the  highly-inclined  strata  of  the 
central  masses,  and  the  level  beds  of  the  upper  formations 
which  have  been  described  as  marking  the  mountain  ranges  of 
Europe '?  To  these  questions,  a  reply  is  furnished,  we  are 
told,  by  a  more  extensive  and  careful  examination  of  the  strata. 
It  may  be,  that  in  certain  localities,  in  certain  districts,  the 
transition,  from  the  mountain  limestone  and  the  coal,  to  the 
superjacent  sandstones  and  oolites,  is  abrupt  and  seemingly 
violent ;  marked  by  unconformable  positions  of  the  upper 
upon  the  lower  strata,  by  beds  of  conglomerate,  by  the  ab- 
sence of  organic  remains  in  certain  of  these  beds.  But  if  we 
follow  these  very  strata  into  other  parts  of  the  world,  or  even 
into  other  parts  of  this  island,  we  find  that  this  abruptness 
and  incongruity  between  the  lower  and  the  higher  strata  dis- 
appears. Between  the  mountain-limestone  and  the  red  sand- 
stone which  lies  over  it,  certain  new  beds  are  found,  which  fill 
up  the  incoherent  interval ;  which  offer  the  same  evidence  as 
the  strata  below  and  above  them,  of  having  been  produced 
tranquilly ;  and  which  do  not  violently  differ  in  position  from 
either  group.  The  appearance  of  incoherence  in  the  series 
arose  from  the  occurrence,  in  the  region  first  examined,  of  a 
gap,  which  is  here  filled  up, — a  blank  which  is  here  supplied. 
Hence  it  is  inferred,  that  whatever  of  violence  and  extreme 
disturbance  is  indicated  by  the  dislocations  and  ruins  there 


GEOLOGY.  91 

observed,  was  local  and  partial  only ;  and  that,  at  the  very 
time  when  these  fragmentary  beds,  void  of  organized  beings, 
were  forming  in  one  place,  there  were,  at  the  same  time,  going 
on,  in  another  part  of  the  earth's  surface,  not  far  removed,  the 
processes  of  the  life,  death  and  imbedding  of  species,  as  tran- 
quilly as  at  any  other  period.  And  the  same  assertion  is 
made  with  regard  to  the  more  general  fact,  before  described, 
of  the  stratigraphical  constitution  of  mountain  chains.  It  is 
asserted  that  the  unconformable  relation  of  the  strata  which 
compose  the  different  parts  of  those  chains,  is  a  local  occur- 
rence only ;  and  that  the  same  strata,  if  followed  into  other 
regions,  are  found  conformable  to  each  other  ;  or  are  reduced 
to  a  virtually  continuous  scheme,  by  the  interpolation  of  other 
strata,  which  make  a  transition,  in  which  no  evidence  of  ex- 
ceptional violence  appears. 

25.  We  shall  not  attempt  (it  is  not  at  all  necessary  for  us 
to  do  so)  to  decide  between  the  doctrines  of  the  two  geologi- 
cal schools  which  thus  stand  in  this  opposition  to  each  other. 
But  it  will  be  useful  to  our  argument  to  state  somewhat 
further  the  opinions  of  this  latter  school  on  one  main  point. 
"We  must  explain  the  view  which  these  geologists  take  of  the 
mode  of  succession  of  one  group  of  organized  beings  to  an- 
other; by  which,  as  we  have  said,  the  different  successive 
strata  are  characterized.  Such  a  phenomenon,  it  would  at  first 
seem,  cannot  be  brought  within  the  ordinary  rules  of  the  exist- 
ing state  of  things.  The  species  of  planets  and  animals  which 
inhabit  the  earth,  do  not  change  from  ag^to  age ;  they  are 
the  same  in  modern  times,  as  they  were  in  the  most  remote 
antiquity,  of  which  we  have  any  record.  The  dogs  and  horses, 
sheep  and  cattle,  lions  and  wolves,  eagles  and  swallows,  corn 
and  vines,  oaks  and  cedars,  which  occupy  the  earth  now,  are 
not,  we  have  the  strongest  reasons  to  believe,  essentially  dif- 


92  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

ferent  now  from  what  they  were  in  the  earliest  ages.  At  least, 
if  one  or  two  species  have  disappeared,  no  new  species  have 
come  into  existence.  We  cannot  conceive  a  greater  violation 
of  the  known  laws  of  nature,  than  that  such  an  event  as  the 
appearance  of  a  new  species  should  have  occurred.  Even 
those  who  hold  the  uniformity  of  the  mechanical  changes  of 
the  earth,  and  of  the  rate  of  change,  from  age  to  age,  and  from 
one  geological  period  to  another ;  must  still,  it  would  seem, 
allow  that  the  zoological  and  phy tological  changes  of  which 
geology  gives  her  testimony,  are  complete  exceptions  to  what 
is  now  taking  place.  The  formation  of  strata  at  the  bottom 
of  the  ocean  from  the  ruin  of  existing  continents,  may  be 
going  on  at  present.  Even  the  elevation  of  the  bed  of  the 
ocean  in  certain  places,  as  a  process  imperceptibly  slow,  may 
be  in  action  at  this  moment,  as  these  theorists  hold  that  it  is. 
But  still,  even  when  the  beds  thus  formed  are  elevated  into 
mountain  chains,  if  that  should  happen,  in  the  course  of  myri- 
ads of  years,  (according  to  the  supposition  it  cannot  be  effected 
in  a  less  period,)  the  strata  of  such  mountain  chains  will  still 
contain  only  the  species  of  such  creatures  as  now  inhabit  the 
waters ;  and  we  shall  have,  even  then,  no  succession  of  or- 
ganic epochs,  such  as  geology  discovers  in  the  existing  moun- 
tains of  the  earth. 

26.  The  answer  which  is  made  to  this  objection  appears  to 
me  to  involve  a  license  of  assumption  on  the  part  of  the  uni- 
formitarian  geologist,  (as  such  theorists  have  been  termed,) 
which  goes  quitd'.beyond  the  bounds  of  natural  philosophy  : 
but  I  wish  to  state  it ;  partly,  in  order  to  show  that  the  most 
ingenious  men,  stimulated  by  the  exigencies  of  a  theory, 
which  requires  some  hypothesis  concerning  the  succession  of 
«5pecies,  to  make  it  coherent  and  complete,  have  still  found  it 
impossible  to  bring  the  creation  of  species  of  plants  and  ani- 


GEOLOGY.  03 

mals  within  the  domain  of  natural  science ;  and  partly,  to 
show  how  easily  and  readily  geological  theorists  are  led  to  as- 
sume periods  of  time,  even  of  a  higher  order  than  those 
which  I  have  ventured  to  suggest. 

27.  It  must,  however,  be  first  stated,  as  a  fact  on  which  the 
assumption  is  founded  which  I  have  to  notice,  that  the  organic 
groups  by  which  these  successive  strata  are  characterized,  are 
not  so  distinct  and  separate,  as  it  was  convenient,  for  the  sake 
of  explanation,  to  describe  them  in  the  first  instance.  Al- 
though each  body  of  strata  is  marked  by  predominant  groups 
of  genera  and  species,  yet  it  is  not  true,  that  all  the  species  of 
each  formation  disappear,  when  we  proceed  to  the  next.  Some 
species  and  genera  endure  through  several  successive  groups 
of  strata ;  while  others  disappear,  and  new  forms  come  into 
view,  as  we  ascend.  And  thus,  the  change  from  one  set  of 
organic  forms  to  another,  as  we  advance  in  time,  is  made,  not 
altogether  by  abrupt  transitions,  but  in  part  continuously. 
The  uniformitarian,  in  the  case  of  organic,  as  in  the  case  of 
mechanical  change,  obliterates  or  weakens  the  evidence  of 
sudden  and  catastrophic  leaps,  by  interposing  intermediate 
steps,  which  involve,  partly  the  phenomena  of  the  preceding, 
and  partly  those  of  the  subsequent  condition.  As  he  allows 
no  universal  transition  from  one  deposit  to  a  succeeding  dis- 
crepant and  unconformable  deposit,  so  he  allows  no  abrupt 
and  complete  transition  from  one  collection  of  organic  beings, 
— one  creation,  as  we  may  call  it, — to  another.  If  creation 
must  needs  be  an  act  out  of  the  region  of  natural  science,  he 
will  have  it  to  be  at  least  an  act  not  exercised  at  distant  in- 
tervals, and  on  peculiar  occasions ;  but  constantly  going  on, 
and  producing  its  effects,  as  much  at  one  time  in  the  geologi- 
cal history  of  the  world,  as  at  another. 

28.  And  this  he  holds,  not  only  with  regard  to  the  geological 


94  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

periods  which  have  preceded  the  existing  condition  of  the 
earth,  but  also  with  regard  to  the  transition  from,  those  previous 
periods  to  that  in  which  we  live.  The  present  population  of 
the  earth  is  not  one  in  which  all  previous  forms  are  extinct. 
The  past  population  of  the  earth  was  not  one  in  which  there 
are  found  no  creatures  still  living.  On  the  contrary,  he  finds 
that  there  exists  a  vast  mass  of  strata,  superior  to  the  second- 
ary strata,  which  are  characterized  by  extinct  forms,  and  are 
yet  inferior  to  those  deposits  which  are  now  going  on  by  the 
agency  of  obvious  causes.  These  masses  of  strata  contain  a 
population  of  creatures,  partly  extinct  species,  and  partly  such 
species  as  are  still  living  on  our  land  and  in  our  waters.  The 
proportion  in  which  the  old  and  the  new  species  occur  in  such 
strata,  is  various  ;  and  the  strata  are  so  numerous,  so  rich  in 
organic  remains,  so  different  from  each  other,  and  have  been 
so  well  explored,  that  they  have  been  classified  and  named  ac- 
cording to  the  proportion  of  new  and  of  old  species,  which  they 
contain.  Those  which  contain  the  largest  proportion  of  species 
still  living,  have  been  termed  Pliocene,  as  containing  a  greater 
number  of  new  or  recent  species.  Below  these,  are  strata 
which  are  termed  Miocene,  implying  a  smaller  number  of  neiv 
species.  Below  these  again,  are  others  which  have  been  termed 
Eocene,  as  contaming  few  new  species  indeed,  but  yet  enough 
to  mark  the  dawn,  the  Eos,  of  the  existing  state  of  the  organic 
world.  These  strata  are,  in  many  places,  of  very  considerable 
thickness ;  and  their  number,  their  succession,  and  the  great 
amount  of  extinct  species  which  they  contain,  shows,  in  a  man- 
ner which  cannot  be  questioned,  (if  the  evidence  of  geology  is 
accepted  at  all,)  in  what  a  gradual  manner,  a  portion  at  least, 
of  the  existing  forms  of  organic  life  have  taken  the  place  of  a 
different  population  previously  existing  on  the  surface  of  the 
globe. 


GEOLOGY.  95 

29.  And  thus  the  uniformitarian  is  led  to  consider  the  facts 
which  geology  brings  to  light,  as  indicating  a  slow  and  almost 
imperceptible,  but,  upon  the  whole,  constant  series  of  changes, 
not  only  in  the  position  of  the  earth's  materials,  but  in  its  ani- 
mal and  vegetable  population.     Land  becomes  sea  and  sea  be 
comes  land ;  the  beds  of  oceans  are  elevated  into  mountain  re- 
gions, carrying  with  them  the  remains  of  their  inhabitants ; 
sheets  of  lava  pour  from  volcanic  vents  and  overwhelm  the 
seats  of  life ;  and  these,  again,  become  fields  of  vegetation ;  or, 
it  may  be,  descend  to  the  depths  of  the  sea,  and  are  overgrown 
with  groves  of  coral ;  lakes  are  filled  with  sediment,  imbed- 
ding the  remains  of  land  animals,  and  form  the  museums  of 
future  zoologists ;  the  deltas  of  mighty  rivers  become  the  cen- 
tres of  continents,  and  are  excavated  as  coal-fields  by  men  in 
remote  ages.     And  yet  all  this  time,  so  slow  is  the  change, 
that  man  is  unaware  such  changes  are  going  on.     He  knows 
that  the  mountains  of  Scandinavia  are  rising  out  of  the  Baltic 
at  the  rate  of  a  few  feet  in  a  century ;  he  knows  that  the  fertile 
slope  of  Etna  has  been  growing  for  thousands  of  years  by  the 
addition  of  lava  streams  and  parasitic  volcanos  ;  he  knows  that 
the  delta  of  the  Mississippi  accumulates  hundreds  of  miles  of 
vegetable  matter  every  generation ;  he  knows  that  the  shores 
of  Europe  are  yielding  to  the  sea;  but  all  these  appear  to  him 
minute  items,  not  worth  summing ;  infinitesimal   quantities, 
which  he  cannot  integrate.     And  so,  in  truth,  they  are,  for  him. 
His  ephemeral  existence  does  not  allow  him  to  form  a  just  con- 
ception, in   any  ordinary  state  of  mind,  of  the  effects  of  this 
constant  agency  of  change,  working  through  countless  thou- 
sands of  years.     But  Time,  inexhausted  and  unremitting,  sums 
the  series,  integrates  the  formula  of  change  ;  and  thus  passes, 
with  sure  though  noiseless  progress,  from  one  geological  epoch 
to  another. 


96  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

SO.  And  in  the  meanwhile,  to  complete  the  view  thus  taken 
by  the  uniform  itarian  of  the  geological  history  of  the  earth, 
by  some  constant  but  inscrutable  law,  creative  agency  is  per- 
petually at  work,  to  introduce,  into  this  progressive  system  of 
things,  new  species  of  vegetable  and  animal  life.      Organic 
forms,  ever  and  ever  new  ones,  are  brought  into  being,  and  left, 
visible  footsteps,  as  it  were,  of  the  progress  which  Time  has 
made ; — marks  placed  between  the  rocky  leaves  of  the  book 
of  creation ;  by  which  man,  when  his  time  comes,  may  turn 
back  and  read  the  past  history  of  his  habitation.     But   the 
point  for  us  to  remark  is,  the  immeasurable,  the  inconceivable 
length  of  time,  if  any  length  of  time  could  be  inconceivable, 
which  i^  required  of  our  thoughts,  by  this  new  assumption  of 
the  constant  production  of  new  species,  as  a  law  of  creation. 
We  might  feel  ourselves  well  nigh  overwhelmed,  when,  by 
looking  at  processes  which  we  see  producing  only  a  few  feet  of 
height  or  breadth  or  depth  during  the  life  of  man,  we  are  called 
upon  to  imagine  the  construction  of  Alps  and  Andes, — when 
we  have  to  imagine  a  world  m.ade  a  few  inches  in  a  century. 
But  there,  at  least,  we  had  something  to  start  from :  the  ele- 
ment of  change  was  small,  but  there  was  an  element  of  change  : 
we  had  to  expand,  but  we  had  not  to  originate.     But  in  con- 
ceiving that  all  the  myriads  of  successive  species,  which  we 
find  in  the  earth's  strata,  have  come  into  being  by  a  law  which 
is  now  operating,  we  have  nothing  to  start  from.     We  have 
seen,  and  know  of,  no  such  change ;  all  sober  and  skilful  natu- 
ralists reject  it,  as  a  fact  not  belonging  to  our  time.     We  have 
here  to  build  a  theory  without  materials ; — to  sum  a  series  of 
which  every  terra,  so  far  as  we  know,  is  nothing  ; — to  introduce 
into  our  scientific  reasonings  an  assumption  contrary  to  all  sci- 
entific knowledge. 

31.  This  appears  to  me  to  be  the  real  character  of  the  as- 


GEOLOGY.  97 

sumption  of  the  constant  creation  of  new  species.  But,  as  I 
have  said,  it  is  not  my  business  here,  to  pronounce  upon  the 
value  or  truth  of  this  assumption.  The  only  use  which  I  wish 
to  make  of  it  is  this:^ — If  any  persons,  who  have  adopted,  the 
geological  view  which  I  have  just  been  explaining,  should  feel 
any  interest  in  the  speculations  here  offered  to  their  notice,  they 
must  needs  be  (as  I  have  no  doubt  they  will  be)  even  more 
willing  than  other  geologists,  to  grant  to  our  argument  a  scale 
of  time  for  geological  succession,  corresponding  in  magnitude 
to  the  scale  of  distances  which  astronomy  teaches  us,  as  those 
which  measure  the  relation  of  the  universe  to  the  earth. 

This  being  supposed  to  be  granted,  I  am  prepared  tc  proceed 
with  my  argument. 

5 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

THE  AEaUMENT   FROM  GEOLOGY. 

1,  I  HAVE  endeavored  to  explain  that,  according  to  the  dis- 
coveries of  geologists,  the  masses  of  which  the  surface  of  the 
earth  is  composed,  exhibit  indisputable  evidence  that,  at  differ- 
ent successive  periods,  the  land  and  the  waters  which  occupy 
it,  have  been  inhabited  by  successive  races  of  plants  and 
animals ;  which,  when  taken  in  large  groups,  according  to  the 
ascending  or  descending  order  of  the  strata,  consist  of  species 
different  from  those  above  and  below  them.  Many  of  these 
groups  of  species  are  of  forms  so  different  from  any  living 
things  which  now  exist,  as  to  give  to  the  life  of  those  ancient 
periods  an  aspect  strangely  diverse  from  that  which  life  now 
displays,  and  to  transfer  us,  in  thought,  to  a  creation  remote 
in  its  predominant  forms  from  that  among  which  we  live.  I 
have  shown  also,  that  the  life  and  successive  generations  of 
these  groups  of  species,  and  the  events  by  v.rhich  the  rocks 
which  contain  these  remains  have  been  brought  into  their  pres- 
ent situation  and  condition,  must  have  occupied  immense  in- 
tervals of  time  ; — intervals  so  large  that  they  deseive  to  be 
compared,  in  their  numerical  expression,  with  the  intervals  of 
space  which  separate  the  planets  and  stars  from  each  other.  It 
has  been  seen,  also,  that  the  best  geologists  and  natural  his- 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  99 

torians  have  not  been  able  to  devise  any  hypothesis  to  acccunt 
for  the  successive  introduction  of  these  new  species  into  the 
earth's  population  ;  except  the  exercise  of  a  series  of  acts  of 
creation,  by  which  they  have  been  brought  into  being  ;  either 
in  groups  at  once,  or  in  a  perpetual  succession  of  one  or  a  few 
species,  which  the  course  of  long  intervals  of  time  might  ac- 
cumulate into  groups  of  species.  It  is  true,  that  some  specu- 
lators have  held  that  by  the  agency  of  natural  causes,  such  as 
operate  upon  organic  forms,  one  species  might  be  transmuted 
into  another ;  external  conditions  of  climate,  food,  and  the 
like,  being  supposed  to  conspire  with  internal  impulses  and 
tendencies,  so  as  to  produce  this  effect.  This  supposition  is, 
however,  on  a  more  exact  examination  of  the  laws  of  animal 
life,  found  to  be  destitute  of  proof;  and  the  doctrine  of  the 
successive  creation  of  species  remains  firmly  established  among 
geologists.  That  the  extinction  of  species,  and  of  groups  of 
species,  may  be  accounted  for  by  natural  causes,  is  a  proposi- 
tion much  more  plausible,  and  to  a  certain  extent,  probable ; 
for  we  have  good  reason  to  believe  that,  even  within  the  time 
of  human  history,  some  few  species  have  ceased  to  exist  upon 
the  earth.  But  whether  the  extinction  of  such  vast  groups 
of  species  as  the  ancient  strata  present  to  our  notice,  can  be 
accounted  for  in  this  way,  at  least  without  assuming  the  oc- 
currence of  great  catastrophes,  which  must  for  a  time,  have 
destroyed  all  forms  of  life  in  the  district  in  which  they  occurred, 
appears  to  be  more  doubtful.  The  decision  of  these  questions, 
however,  is  not  essential  to  our  purpose.  What  is  important 
is,  that  immense  numbers  of  tribes  of  animals  have  tenanted 
the  earth  for  countless  ages,  before  the  present  state  of  things 
began  to  be. 

2.  The  present  state  of  things  is  that  to  which  the  existence 
find  the  history  of  Man  belong  ;  and  the  remark  which  I  now 


100  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

have  to  make  is,  that  the  existence  and  the  history  of  Man 
are  facts  of  an  entirely  different  order  from  any  which  existed 
in  any  of  the  previous  states  of  the  earth ;  and  that  this  his- 
tory has  occupied  a  series  of  years  which,  compared  with 
geological  periods,  may  be  regarded  as  very  brief  and  limited. 

3.  The  remains  of  man  are  nowhere  found  in  the  strata 
which  contain  the  records  of  former  states  of  the  earth.  Skele- 
tons of  vast  varieties  of  creatures  have  been  disinterred  from 
their  rocky  tombs  ;  but  these  cemeteries  of  nature  supply  no 
portion  of  a  human  skeleton.  In  earlier  periods  of  natural 
science,  when  comparative  anatomy  was  as  yet  very  imper- 
fectly understood,  no  doubt,  many  fossil  bones  were  supposed 
to  be  human  bones.  The  remains  of  giants  and  of  antedilu- 
vians were  frequent  in  museums.  But  a  further  knowledge 
of  anatomy  has  made  it  appear  that  such  bones  all  belong  to 
animals,  of  one  kind  or  another ;  often,  to  animals  utterly  dif- 
ferent, in  their  form  and  skeleton,  from  man.  Also  some 
bones,  really  human,  have  been  found  petrified  in  situations  in 
which  petrification  has  gone  on  in  recent  times,  and  is  still 
going  on.  Human  skeletons,  imbedded  in  rocks  by  this  pro- 
cess, have  been  found  in  the  island  of  Guadaloupe,  and  else- 
where. But  this  phenomenon  is  easily  distinguishable  from 
the  petrified  bones  of  other  animals,  which  are  found  in  rocks 
belonging  to  really  geological  periods ;  and  does  not  at  all 
obliterate  the  distinction  between  the  geological  and  the  his- 
torical periods. 

4.  Indeed  not  bones  only,  but  objects  of  art,  pj'oduced  by 
human  workmanship,  are  found  fossilized  and  petrified  by  the 
like  processes ;  and  these,  of  course,  belong  to  the  historical 
period.  Human  bones,  and  human  works,  are  found  in  such 
deposits  as  morasses,  sand-banks,  lava-streams,  mounds  of 
voicunic  a^jlioo  ;  and  many  of  them  may  be  of  unknoNvn,  and, 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  101 

compared  with  the  duration  of  a  few  generations,  of  very- 
great  antiquity ;  but  such  deposits  are  distinguishable,  gen- 
erally without  difficulty,  from  the  strata  in  which  the  geologist 
reads  the  records  of  former  creations.  It  has  been  truly  said, 
that  the  geologist  is  an  Antiquary  ;  for,  like  the  antiquary,  he 
traces  a  past  condition  of  things  in  the  remains  and  effects  of 
it  which  still  subsist ;  but  it  has  also  been  truly  said,  at  the 
same  time,  that  he  is  an  antiquary  of  a  new  Order ;  for  the 
remains  which  he  studies  are  those  which  illustrate  the  historv 
of  the  earth,  not  of  man.  The  geologist's  antiquity  is  not  that 
of  ornaments  and  arms,  utensils  and  habiliments,  walls  and 
mounds ;  but  of  species  and  of  genera,  of  seas  and  of  moun- 
tains. It  is  true,  that  the  geologist  may  have  to  study  the 
works  of  man,  in  order  to  trace  the  effects  of  causes  which 
produce  the  results  which  he  investigates  ;  as  when  he  ex- 
amines the  pholad-pierced  pillars  of  Pateoli,  to  prove  the  rise 
and  the  fall  of  the  ground  on  which  they  stand  ;  or  notes  the 
anchoring-rings  in  the  wall  of  some  Roman  edifice,  once  a 
maritime  fort,  but  now^  a  ruin  remote  from  the  sea  ;  or  when 
he  remarks  the  streets  in  the  toi^ns  of  Scania,  which  are  now 
below  the  level  of  the  Baltic,*  and  therefore  show  that  the  land 
has  sunk  since  these  pavements  were  laid.  But  in  studying 
such  objects,  the  geologist  considers  the  hand  of  man  as  only 
one  among  many  agencies.  Man  is  to  him  only  one  of  the 
natural  causes  of  change. 

5.  And  if,  with  the  illustrious  author  to  whom  we  have  just 
referred,!  we  liken  the  fossil  remains,  by  which  the  geologist 
determines  the  age  of  his  strata,  to  the  Medals  and  Coins  in 
which  the  antiquary  finds  the  record  of  reigns  and  dynasties  ; 
WQ  must  still  recollect  that  a  Coin  really  discloses  a  vast  body 
of  characteristics  of  man,  to  which  there  is  nothing  approach- 
*  Lyell,  n.  420.     [6th  Ed.]  f  Oavier. 


102  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

iiig  in  the  previous  condition  of  the  world.  For  how  much 
does  a  Coin  or  Medal  indicate  1  Property  ;  exchange  ;  gov- 
ernment;  a  staidard  of  value  ;  the  arts  of  mining,  assaying, 
coining,  drawing,  and  sculpture  ;  language,  writing,  and  reck- 
oning ;  historical  recollections,  and  the  wish  to  be  remembered 
by  future  ages.  All  this  is  involved  in  that  small  human 
work,  a  Coin.  If  the  fossil  remains  of  animals  may  (as  has 
been  said)  be  termed  Medals  struck  by  Nature  to  record  the 
epochs  of  her  history  ;  Medals  must  be  said  to  be,  not  merely, 
like  fossil  remains,  records  of  material  things  ;  they  are  the 
records  of  thought,  purpose,  society,  long  continued,  long  im- 
proved, supplied  with  multiplied  aids  and  helps  ;  they  are  the 
permanent  results,  in  a  minute  compass,  of  a  vast  progress, 
extending  through  all  the  ramifications  of  human  life. 

6.  Not  a  coin  merely,  but  any,  the  rudest  work  of  humian 
art,  carries  us  far  beyond  the  domain  of  mere  animal  life. 
There  is  no  transition  from  man  to  animals.  N©  doubt,  there 
are  races  of  men  very  degraded,  barbarous,  and  brutish.  No 
doubt  there  are  kinds  of  animals  which  are  verv  intelligent  and 
sagacious ;  and  some  which  are  exceedingly  disposed  to  and 
adapted  to  companionship  with  man.  But  by  elevating  the  in- 
telligence of  the  brute,  we  do  not  make  it  become  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  man.  By  making  man  barbarous,  we  do  not  make 
him  cease  to  be  a  man.  Animals  have  their  especial  capacities, 
which  may  be  carried  very  far,  and  may  approach  near  to  hu- 
man sagacity,  or  may  even  go  beyond  it ;  but  the  capacity  of 
man  is  of  a  different  kind.  It  is  a  capacity,  not  for  becoming 
sagacious,  but  for  becoming  rational ;  or  rather  it  is  a  capacity 
which  he  has  in  virtue  of  being  rational.  It  is  a  capacity  of 
progress.  In  animals,  however  sagacious,  however  well  trained, 
the  progress  in  skill  and  knowledge  is  limited,  and  very  nar- 
rowly limited.     The  creature  soon  reaches  a  boundary,  beyond 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  103 

which  it  cannot  pass ;  and  even  if  the  acquired  habits  be  trans- 
mitted by  descent  to  another  generation,  (which  happens  in  the 
case  of  dogs  and  several  other  animals,)  still  the  race  soon 
comes  to  a  stand  in  its  accomplishments.  But  in  man,  the  pos- 
sible progress  from  generation  to  generation,  in  intelligence 
and  knowledge,  and  we  may  also  say,  in  power,  is  indefinite  ; 
or  if  this  be  doubted,  it  is  at  least  so  vast,  that  compared  with 
animals,  his  capacity  is  infinite.  And  this  capacity  extends  to 
all  races  of  men  its  characterizing  efficacy  :  for  we  have  good 
reason  to  believe  that  there  is  no  race  of  human  beings  who 
may  not,  by  a  due  course  of  culture,  continued  through  genera- 
tions, be  brought  into  a  community  of  intelligence  and  power 
with  the  most  intelligent  and  the  most  powerful  races.  This 
seems  to  be  well  established,  for  instance,  with  regard  to  the 
African  negroes  ;  so  long  regarded  by  most,  by  some  proba- 
bly regarded  still,  as  a  race  inferior  to  Europeans.  It  has  been 
found  that  they  are  abundantly  capable  of  taking  a  share  in  the 
arts,  literature,  morality  and  religion  of  European  peoples. 
And  we  cannot  doubt  that,  in  the  same  manner,  the  native 
Australians,  or  the  Bushmen  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  have 
human  faculties  and  human  capacities;  however  difficult  it 
might  be  to  unfold  these,  in  one  or  two  generations,  into  a 
form  of  intelligence  and  civilization  in  any  considerable  degree 
resembling  our  own. 

7.  It  is  not  requisite  for  us,  and  it  naight  lead  to  unnecessary 
difficulties,  to  fix  upon  any  one  attribute  of  man,  as  peculiarly 
characteristic,  and  distinguishing  him  from  brutes.  Yet  it 
would  not  be  too  much  to  say  that  man  is,  in  truth,  univer- 
sally and  specifically  characterized  by  the  possession  of  Lan- 
guage. It  will  not  be  questioned  that  language,  in  its  highest 
forms,  is  a  wonderful  vehicle  and  a  striking  evidence  of  the  in- 
telligence of  man.     His  bodily  organs  can,  by  a  few  scarcely 


104  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

perceptible  motions,  shape  the  air  into  sounds  which  express 
the  kinds,  properties,  actions  and  relations  of  things,  under 
thousands  of  aspects,  in  forms  infinitely  more  general  and  re- 
condite than  those  in  which  they  present  themselves  to  his 
senses ; — and  he  can,  by  means  of  these  forms,  aided  by  the 
use  of  his  senses,  explore  the  boundless  regions  of  space,  the 
far  recesses  of  past  time,  the  order  of  nature,  the  working  of 
the  Author  of  nature.  This  man  does,  by  the  exercise  of  his 
Reason,  and  by  the  use  of  Language,  a  necessary  implement 
of  his  Reason  for  such  purposes. 

8.  That  language,  in  such  a  stage,  is  a  special  character  of 
man,  will  not  be  doubted.  But  it  may  be  thought,  there  is 
little  resemblance  between  Language  in  this  exalted  degree 
of  perfection,  and  the  seemingly  senseless  gibberish  of  the 
most  barbarous  tribes.  Such  an  opinion,  however,  might 
easily  be  carried  too  far.  All  human  language  has  in  it  the 
elements  of  indefinite  intellectual  activity,  and  the  germs  of  in- 
definite development.  Even  the  rudest  kind  of  speech,  used 
by  savages,  denotes  objects  by  their  kinds,  their  attributes,  their 
relations,  with  a  degree  of  generality  derived  from  the  intellect, 
not  from  the  senses.  The  generality  may  be  very  limited ; 
the  relations  which  the  human  intellect  is  capable  of  appre- 
hending may  be  imperfectly  conveyed.  But  to  denote  kinds 
and  attributes  and  actions  and  relations  at  all,  is  a  beginning  of 
generalization  and  abstraction  ; — or  rather,  is  far  miore  than  a 
beginning.  It  is  the  work  of  a  faculty  which  can  generalize 
and  abstract ;  and  these  mental  processes  once  begun,  the  field 
of  progress  which  is  open  to  them  is  indefinite.  Undoubtedly 
it  may  happen  that  weak  and  barbarous  tribes  are,  for  many 
generations,  so  hard  pressed  by  circumstances,  and  their  facul- 
ties so  entirely  absorbed  in  providing  for  the  bare  wants  of  the 
poorest  life,  that  their  thoughts  may  never  travel  to  anything 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  105 

be}  Olid  these,  and  their  language  may  not  be  extended  so  as  to 
be  applicable  to  any  other  purposes.  But  this  is  not  the  stand- 
ard condition  of  mankind.  It  is  not,  by  such  cases,  that  man, 
or  that  human  nature,  is  to  be  judged.  The  normal  condition 
of  man  is  one  of  an  advance  beyond  the  mere  means  of  sub- 
sistence, to  the  arts  of  life,  and  the  exercise  of  thought  in  a 
general  form.  To  some  extent,  such  an  advance  has  taken  place 
in  almost  every  region  of  the  earth  and  in  every  age. 

9.  Perhaps  we  may  often  have  a  tendency  to  think  more 
meanly  than  they  deserve,  of  so-called  barbarous  tribes,  and 
of  those  whose  intellectual  habits  differ  much  from  our  own. 
We  may  be  prone  to  regard  ourselves  as  standing  at  the  sum- 
mit of  civilization ;  and  all  other  nations  and  ages,  as  not  only 
occupying  inferior  positions,  but  positions  on  a  slope  which 
descends  till  it  sinks  into  the  nature  of  brutes.  And  yet  how 
little  does  an  examination  of  the  history  of  mankind  justify 
this  view !  The  different  stages  of  civilization,  and  of  intel- 
lectual culture,  which  have  prevailed  among  them,  have  had  no 
appearance  of  belonging  to  one  single  series,  in  which  the  cases 
differed  only  as  higher  or  lower.  On  the  contrary,  there  have 
been  many  very  different  kinds  of  civilization,  accompanied  by 
different  forms  of  art  and  of  thought ;  showing  how  univer- 
sally the  human  mind  tends  to  such  habits,  and  how  rich  it  is 
in  the  modes  of  manifesting  its  innate  powers.  How  different 
have  been  the  forms  of  civilization  among  the  Chinese,  the  In- 
dians, the  Egyptians,  the  Babylonians,  the  Mexicans,  the  Pe- 
ruvians !  Yet  in  all,  how  much  was  displayed  of  sagacity  and 
skill,  of  perseverance  and  progress,  of  mental  activity  and 
grasp,  of  thoughtfulness  and  power.  Are  we,  in  thinking  of 
these  manifestations  of  human  capacity,  to  think  of  them  as 
only  a  stage  between  us  and  brutes  ?  or  are  we  to  think  so, 
even  of  the  stoical  Red  Indians  of  North  America,  or  the  en- 

5* 


106  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WOULDS, 

ergetic  New  Zealanders,  and  CafFres  1  And  if  not,  why  of  the 
African  Negroes,  or  the  Australians,  or  the  Bushmen '?  We 
may  call  their  Language  a  jargon.  Very  probable  it  would, 
in  its  present  form,  be  unable  to  express  a  great  deal  of  what 
we  are  in  the  habit  of  putting  into  language.  But  can  we  re- 
fuse to  believe  that,  with  regard  to  matters  with  which  they 
are  familiar,  and  on  occasions  where  they  are  interested,  they 
would  be  to  each  other  intelligible  and  clear  ?  And  if  we  sup- 
pose cases  in  which  their  affections  and  emotions  are  strongly 
excited,  (and  affections  and  emotions  at  least  we  cannot  deny 
them,)  can  we  not  believe  that  they  v»^ould  be  eloquent  and  im- 
pressive ?  Do  we  not  know,  in  fact,  that  almost  all  nations 
which  we  call  savage,  are,  on  such  occasions,  eloquent  in  their 
own  language  *?  And  since  this  is  so,  must  not  their  language, 
after  all,  be  a  wonderful  instrument  as  well  as  ours '?  Since 
it  can  convey  one  man's  thoughts  and  emotions  to  many, 
clothed  in  the  form  which  they  assume  in  his  mind  ;  giving  to 
things,  it  may  be,  an  aspect  quite  different  from  that  which 
they  would  have  if  presented  to  their  own  senses  ;  guiding 
their  conviction,  warming  their  hearts,  impelling  their  pur- 
poses ; — can  language,  even  in  such  cases,  be  otherwise  than  a 
wonderful  produce  of  man's  internal,  of  his  mental,  that  is,  of 
his  peculiarly  human  faculties  1  And  is  not  language,  there- 
fore, even  in  what  we  regard  as  its  lowest  forms,  an  endow- 
ment which  completely  separates  man  from  animals  which 
have  no  such  faculty  ? — which  cannot  regard,  or  which  cannot 
convey,  the  impressions  of  the  individual  in  any  such  general 
and  abstract  form  ?  Probably  we  should  find,  as  those  who 
have  studied  the  language  of  savages  always  have  found,  that 
every  such  language  contains  a  number  of  curious  and  subtle 
practices, — contrivances,  we  cannot  help  calling  them, — for 
marking  the  relations,  bearings  and  connections  of  words  ;  con- 


THE     ARGUMENT     FHOM     GEOLOGY.  107 

trivances  quite  different  from  those  of  the  languages  which  we 
think  of  as  more  perfect ;  but  yet,  in  the  mouths  of  those  who 
use  such  speech,  answering  their  purpose  with  great  precision. 
But  without  going  into  such  details,  the  use  of  any  articulate 
language  is.  as  the  oldest  Greeks  spoke  of  it,  a  special  and 
complete  distinction  of  man  as  man. 

10.  It  would  be  an  obscure  and  useless  labor,  to  speculate 
upon  the  question  whether  animals  have  among  themselves 
anything  which  can  properly  be  called  Language.  That  they 
have  anything  which  can  be  termed  Language,  in  the  sense  in 
which  we  here  speak  of  it,  as  admitting  of  general  express- 
ions, abstractions,  address  to  numbers,  eloquence,  is  utterly 
at  variance  with  any  interpretation  which  we  can  put  upon 
their  proceedings.  The  broad  distinction  of  Instinct  and  Rea- 
son, however  obscure  it  may  be,  yet  seems  to  be  most  simply 
described,  by  saying,  that  animals  do  not  apprehend  their  im- 
pressions under  general  forms,  and  that  man  does.  Resem- 
blance, and  consequent  association  of  impressions,  may  often 
show  like  generalization ;  but  yet  it  is  different.  There  is,  in 
man's  mind,  a  germ  of  general  thoughts,  suggested  by  resem- 
blances, vv^hich  is  evolved  and  fixed  in  language ;  and  by  the 
aid  of  such  an  addition  to  the  impressions  of  sense,  man  has 
thousands  of  intellectual  pathways  from  object  to  object,  from 
effect  to  cause,  from  fact  to  inference.  His  impressions  are 
projected  on  a  sphere  of  thought  of  which  the  radii  can  be 
prolonged  into  the  farthest  regions  of  the  universe.  Animals, 
on  the  contrary,  are  shut  up  in  their  sphere  of  sensation, — ■ 
passing  from,  one  impression  to  another  by  various  associa- 
tions, established  by  circumstances ;  but  still,  having  access 
to  no  wider  intellectual  region,  through  which  lie  lines  of 
transition  purely  abstract  and  mental.  That  they  have  their 
modes  of  communicating  their  impressions  and  associations, 


108  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

tlieir  affections  and  emotions,  we  know ;  "but  these  modes  of 
communication  do  not  make  a  language ;  nor  do  they  disturb 
the  assignment  of  Language  as  a  special  character  of  man ; 
nor  the  belief  that  man  differs  in  his  Kind,  and  we  may  say, 
using  a  larger  phrase,  in  his  Order,  from  all  other  creatures. 

11.  We  may  sometimes  be  led  to  assign  much  of  the  de- 
velopment of  man's  peculiar  powers,  to  the  influence  of  ex- 
ternal circumstances.  And  that  the  development  of  those 
powers  is  so  influenced,  we  cannot  doubt ;  but  their  develop- 
ment only,  not  their  existence.  We  have  already  said  that 
savages,  living  a  precarious  and  miserable  life,  occupied  in- 
cessantly with  providing  for  their  mere  bodily  wants,  are  not 
likely  to  possess  language,  or  any  other  characteristic  of 
humanity,  in  any  but  a  stunted  and  imperfect  form.  But, 
that  manhood  is  debased  and  degraded  under  such  adverse 
conditions,  does  not  make  man  cease  to  be  man.  Even  from 
such  an  abject  race,  if  a  child  be  taken  and  brought  up  among 
the  comforts  and  means  of  development  which  civilized  life 
supplies,  he  does  not  fail  to  show  that  he  possesses,  perhaps  in 
an  eminent  degree,  the  powers  which  specially  belong  to  man. 
The  evidences  of  human  tendencies,  human  thoughts,  human 
capacities,  human  affections  and  sympathies,  appear  conspicu- 
ously, in  cases  in  which  there  has  been  no  time  for  external 
circumstances  to  operate  in  any  great  degree,  so  as  to  unfold 
any  difference  between  the  man  and  the  brute ;  or  in  which 
the  influence  of  the  most  general  of  external  agencies,  the  im- 
pressions of  several  of  the  senses,  have  been  intercepted. 
Who  that  sees  a  lively  child,  lookhig  with  eager  and  curious 
eyes  at  every  object,  uttering  cries  that  express  every  variety 
of  elementary  human  emotion  in  the  most  vivacious  manner, 
exchanging  looks  and  gestures,  and  inarticulate  sounds,  with 
his  nurse,  can  doubt  that  already  he  possesses  the  germs  of 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  109 

human  feeling,  thought  and  knowledge  1  that  already,  before 
he  can  form  or  understand  a  single  articulate  word,  he  has 
within  him  the  materials  of  an  infinite  exuberance  of  utter 
ance,  and  an  impulse  to  find  the  language  into  which  such 
utterance  is  to  be  moulded  by  the  law  of  his  human  nature 
And  perhaps  it  may  have  happened  to  others,  as  it  has  to  me, 
to  know  a  child  who  had  been  both  deaf,  dumb,  and  blind, 
from  a  very  early  age.  Yet  she,  as  years  went  on,  disclosed 
a  perpetually  growing  sympathy  with  the  other  children  of 
the  family  in  all  their  actions,  with  which  of  course  she  could 
only  acquaint  herself  by  the  sense  of  touch.  She  sat,  dressed, 
walked,  as  they  did ;  even  imitated  them  in  holding  a  book  in 
her  hand  when  they  read,  and  in  kneeling  when  they  prayed. 
No  one  could  look  at  the  change  which  came  over  her  sight- 
less countenance,  when  a  known  hand  touched  hers,  and  doubt 
that  there  was  a  human  soul  within  the  frame.  The  human 
soul  seemed  not  only  to  be  there,  but  to  have  been  fully  de- 
veloped ;  though  the  means  by  which  it  could  receive  such 
communications  as  generally  constitute  human  education,  were 
thus  cut  off.  And  such  modes  of  communication  with  her 
companions  as  had  been  taught  her,  or  as  she  had  herself  in- 
vented, well  bore  out  the  belief,  that  her  mind  was  the  con- 
stant dwelling-place,  not  only  of  human  affections,  but  of 
human  thoughts.  So  plainly  does  it  appear  that  human 
thought  is  not  produced  or  occasioned  by  external  circum- 
stances only ;  but  has  a  special  and  indestructible  germ  in 
human  nature. 

12.  I  have  been  endeavoring  to  illustrate  the  doctrine  that 
man's  nature  is  different  from  the  nature  of  other  animals  ;  as 
subsidiary  to  the  doctrine  that  the  Human  Epoch  of  the  earth's 
history  is  different  from  all  the  preceding  Epochs.  But  in 
truth,  this  subsidiary  proposition  is  not  by  any  means  neces- 


HO  '         THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

s'dvy  to  my  main  purpose.  Even  if  barbarous  and  savage 
tribes,  even  if  men  under  unfavorable  circumstances,  be  little 
better  than  the  brutes,  still  no  one  will  doubt  that  the  most 
civilized  races  of  mankind,  that  man  under  the  miost  favorable 
circumstances,  is  far,  is,  indeed,  immeasurably  elevated  above 
the  brutes.  The  history  of  man  includes  not  only  the  history 
of  Scythians  and  Barbarians,  Australians  and  Negroes,  but  of 
ancient  Greeks  and  of  modern  Europeans ;  and  therefore  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  period  of  the  Earth's  history,  which 
includes  the  history  of  man,  is  very  different  indeed  from  any 
period  which  preceded  that.  To  illustrate  the  peculiarity,  the 
elevation,  the  dignity,  the  wonderful  endowments  of  man,  we 
might  refer  to  the  achievements,  the  recorded  thoughts  and 
actions,  of  the  most  eminent  among  those  nations ; — to  their 
arts,  their  poetry,  their  eloquence ;  their  philosophers,  their 
mathematicians,  their  astronomers  ;  to  the  acts  of  virtue  and 
devotion,  of  patriotism,  generosity,  obedience,  truthfulness, 
love,  which  took  place  among  them ;— to  their  piety,  their 
reverence  for  the  deity,  their  resignation  to  his  will,  their  hope 
of  immortality.  Such  characteristic  traits  of  man  as  man, 
(which  all  exam.ples  of  intelligence,  virtue,  and  religion,  are,) 
might  serve  to  show  that  man  is,  in  a  sense  quite  different 
fi'om  other  creatures,  "  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made ;"  but 
I  need  not  go  into  such  details.  It  is  sufficient  for  my  pur- 
pose to  sum  up  the  result  in  the  expressions  which  I  have 
already  used ;  that  man  is  an  intellectual,  moral,  religious, 
and  spiritual  being. 

13.  But  the  existence  of  man  upon  the  earth  being  thus  an 
event  of  an  order  quile  different  from  any  previous  part  of  the 
earth's  history,  the  question  occurs,  how  long  has  this  state  of 
things  endured  1  What  period  has  elapsed  since  this  creature, 
with  these  high  powers  and  faculties,  was  placed  upon  the 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  Ill 

earth  ?  How  far  must  we  go  backward  in  time,  to  find  the 
beginning  of  his  wonderful  history  ? — so  utterly  wonderful 
compared  with  anything  which  had  previously  occurred.  For 
as  to  that  point,  we  cannot  feel  any  doubt.  The  wildest  im- 
agination cannot  suggest  that  corals  and  madrepores,  oysters 
and  sepias,  fishes  and  lizards,  may  have  been  rational  and  moral 
creatures  ;  nor  even  those  creatures  which  come  nearer  to  hu- 
man organization  ;  megatheriums  and  mastodons,  extinct  deer 
and  elephants.  Undoubtedly  the  earth,  till  the  existence  of 
man,  was  a  world  of  mere  brute  creatures.  How  long  then 
has  it  been  otherwise  '?  How  long  has  it  been  the  habitation 
of  a  rational,  reflective,  progressive  race  1  Can  we  by  any 
evidence,  geological  or  other,  approximate  to  the  beginning  of 
the  Human  History '? 

14.  This  is  a  large  and  curious  question,  and  one  on  which 
a  precise  answer  may  not  be  within  our  reach.  But  an  answer 
not  precise,  an  approximation,  as  we  have  suggested,  may  suf- 
fice for  our  purpose.  If  we  can  determine,  in  some  measure, 
the  order  and  scale  of  the  period  during  which  man  has  occu- 
pied the  earth,  the  determination  may  serve  to  support  the 
analogy  which  we  wish  to  establish. 

15.  The  geological  evidence  with  regard  to  the  existence  of 
man  is  altogether  negative.  Previous  to  the  deposits  and 
changes  which  we  can  trace  as  belonging  obviously  to  the  pres- 
ent state  of  the  earth's  surface,  and  the  operation  of  causes  now 
existing,  there  is  no  vestige  of  the  existence  of  man,  or  of  his 
works.  As  was  long  ago  observed,*  we  do  not  find,  among 
the  shells  and  bones  which  are  so  abundant  in  the  older  strata, 
any  weapons,  medals,  implenaents,  structures,  which  speak  to 
us  of  the  hand  of  man,  the  workman.  If  we  look  forwards 
ten  or  twenty  thousand  years,  and  suppose  the  existing  works 

*  By  Bishop  Berkeley.    See  Lyell,  in.  346. 


112  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

of  man  to  have  been,  hy  tliat  time,  ruined  and  covered  up  by 
masses  of  rubbish,  inundations,  morasses,  lava-streams,  earth- 
quakes ;  still,  when  the  future  inhabitant  of  the  earth  digs 
into  and  explores  these  coverings,  he  will  discover  innumerable 
monuments  that  man  existed  so  long  ago.  The  materials  of 
many  of  his  works,  and  the  traces  of  his  own  mind,  which  he 
stamps  upon  them,  are  as  indestructible  as  the  shells  and  bones 
which  give  language  to  the  oldest  work.  Indeed,  in  many  cases 
the  oldest  fossil  remains  are  the  results  of  objects  of  seemingly 
the  most  frail  and  perishable  material ; — of  the  most  delicate 
and  tender  animal  and  vegetable  tissues  and  filaments.  That 
no  such  remains  of  textures  and  forms,  moulded  by  the  hand 
of  man,  are  anywhere  found  among  these,  must  be  accepted  as 
indisputable  evidence  that  man  did  not  exist,  so  as  to  be  con- 
temporary with  the  plants  and  animals  thus  commemorated. 
According  to  geological  evidence,  the  race  of  man  is  a  novelty 
upon  the  earth ; — something  which  has  succeeded  to  all  the 
great  geological  changes. 

16.  And  in  this,  almost  all  geologists  are  agreed.  Even 
those  who  hold  that,  in  other  ways,  the  course  of  change  has 
been  uniform  ;■ — that  even  the  introduction  of  man,  as  a  new 
species  of  animal,  is  only  an  event  of  the  same  kind  as  myr- 
iads of  like  events  which  have  occurred  in  the  history  of  the 
earth ; — still  allow  that  the  introduction  of  man,  as  a  moral 
being,  is  an  event  entirely  different  from  any  which  had  taken 
place  before  ;  and  that  event  is,  geologically  speaking,  recent. 
The  changes  of  which  we  have  spoken,  as  studied  by  the  geol- 
ogist in  connection  with  the  works  of  man,  the  destruction  of 
buildings  on  sea-coasts  by  the  incursions  of  the  ocean,  the  re- 
moval of  the  shore  many  miles  away  from  ancient  harbors, 
the  overwhelming  of  cities  by  earthquakes  or  volcanic  erup- 
tions ;  however  great  when  compared  with  the  changes  which 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  113 

take  place  in  one  or  two  generations  ;  are  minute  and  infini- 
tesimal, when  put  in  comparison  with  the  changes  by  which 
ranges  of  mountains  and  continents  have  been  brought  into 
being,  one  after  another,  each  of  them  filled  with  the  remains 
of  different  organic  creations. 

17.  Further  than  this,  geology  does  not  go  on  this  question. 
She  has  no  chronometer  which  can  tell  us  when  the  first  build- 
ings were  erected,  when  man  first  dwelt  in  cities,  first  used 
implements  or  arms ;  still  less,  language  and  reflection. 
Geology  is  compelled  to  give  over  the  question  to  History. 
The  external  evidences  of  the  antiquity  of  the  species  fail  us, 
and  we  m.ust  have  recourse  to  the  internal.  Nature  can  tell 
us  so  little  of  the  age  of  man,  that  we  must  inquire  what  he 
can  tell  us  himself. 

18.  What  man  can  tell  us  of  his  own  age — what  history 
can  say  of  the  beginning  of  history — is  necessarily  very  ob- 
scure and  imperfect.  We  know  how  difficult  it  is  to  trace  to 
its  origin  the  History  of  any  single  Nation  :  how  much  more, 
the  History  of  all  Nations  !  We  know  that  all  such  particu- 
lar histories  carry  us  back  to  periods  of  the  migrations  of 
tribes,  confused  mixtures  of  populations,  perplexed  and  con- 
tradictory genealogies  of  races  ;  and  as  we  follow  these  fur- 
ther and  further  backwards,  they  become  more  and  more  ob- 
scure and  uncertain  ;  at  least  in  the  histories  which  remain  to 
us  of  most  nations.  Still,  tlie  obscurity  is  not  such  as  to  lead 
us  to  the  conviction  that  research  is  useless  and  unprofitable. 
It  is  an  obscurity  such  as  naturally  arises  from  the  lapse  of 
time,  and  the  complexity  of  the  subject.  The  aspect  of  the 
world,  however  far  we  go  back,  is  still  historical  and  human ; 
historical  and  human,  in  as  high  a  degree,  as  it  is  at  the  pres- 
ent day.  Men,  as  described  in  the  records  of  the  oldest  times, 
are  of  the  same  nature,  act  with  the  same  views,  are  governed 


114  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

by  the  same  motives,  as  at  present.  Jit  all  points,  we  see 
thought,  purpose,  law,  religion,  progress.  If  we  do  not  find 
a  beginning,  we  find  at  least  evidence  that,  in  approaching  the 
beginning,  the  condition  of  man  does  not,  in  any  way,  cease 
to  be  that  of  an  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  creature. 

19.  There  are,  indeed,  some  histories  which  speak  to  us  of 
the  beginning  of  man's  existence  upon  earth ;  and  one  such 
history  in  particular,  which  comes  to  us  recommended  by  in- 
disputable evidence  of  its  own  great  antiquity,  by  numerous 
and  striking  confirmations  from  other  histories,  and  from  facts 
still  current,  and  by  its  connection  with  that  religious  view 
of  man's  condition,  which  appears  to  thoughtful  men  to  be 
absolutely  requisite  to  give  a  meaning  and  purpose  to  man's 
faculties  and  endowments.  I  speak,  of  course,  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures.  This  history  professes  to  inform  us  how  man 
was  placed  upon  the  earth ;  and  how,  from  one  centre,  the 
human  family  spread  itself  in  various  branches  into  all  parts 
of  the  world.  This  genealogy  of  the  human  race  is  accom- 
panied by  a  chronology,  from  which  it  results  that  the  an- 
tiquity of  the  human  race  does  not  exceed  a  few  thousand 
years.  Even  if  we  accept  this  history  as  true  and  authorita- 
tive, it  would  not  be  wise  to  be  rigidly  tenacious  of  the  chro- 
nology, as  to  its  minute  exactness.  For,  in  the  first  place,  of 
three  different  forms  in  which  this  history  appears,  the  chro- 
nology is  different  in  all  the  threie :  I  mean  the  Hebrew,  the 
Samaritan,  and  the  Septuagint  versions  of  the  Old  Testament. 
And  even  if  this  were  not  so,  since  this  chronology  is  put  in 
the  form  ef  genealogies,  of  vhich  many  of  the  steps  may  very 
probably  have  a  meaning  different  from  the  simple  succession 
of  generations  in  a  family,  (as  some  of  them  certainly  have,) 
it  would  be  unwise  to  consider  ourselves  bound  to  the  exact 
number  of  years  stated,  in  any  of  the  three  versions,  or  even 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  115 

in  all.  It  makes  no  difference  to  our  argument,  nor  to  any 
purpose  in  which  we  can  suppose  this  narrative  to  have  a 
bearing,  whether  we  accept  six  thousand  or  ten  thousand 
years,  or  even  a  longer  period,  as  the  interval  which  has  now 
elapsed  since  the  creation  of  man  took  place,  and  the  peopling 
of  the  earth  began. 

20.  And,  in  our  speculations  at  least,  it  will  be  well  for  us 
to  take  into  account  the  view  which  is  given  us  of  the  an- 
tiquity of  the  human  race,  by  other  histories  as  well  as  by  this. 
A  satisfactory  result  of  such  an  investigation  would  be  at- 
tained if,  looking  at  all  these  histories,  weighing  their  value, 
interpreting  their  expressions  fairly,  discovering  their  sources 
of  error,  and  of  misrepresentation,  we  should  find  them  all 
converge  to  one  point ;  all  give  a  consistent  and  harmonious 
view  of  the  earliest  stages  of  man's  history ;  of  the  times  and 
places  in  w^hich  he  first  appeared  as  man.  If  all  nations  of  men 
are  branches  of  the  same  family,  it  cannot  but  interest  us,  to  find 
all  the  family  traditions  tending  upwards  towards  the  same 
quarter  ;  indicating  a  divergence  from  the  same  point ;  exhib- 
iting a  recollection  of  the  original  domicile,  or  of  the  same 
original  family  circle. 

21.  To  a  certain  extent  at  least,  this  appears  to  be  the  result 
of  the  historical  investigations  which  have  been  pursued  rela- 
tive to  this  subject.  A  certain  group  of  nations  is  brought 
before  us  by  these  researches  which,  a  few  thousands  of  years 
ago,  were  possessed  of  arts,  and  manners,  and  habits,  and  be- 
lief, which  make  them  conspicuous,  and  which  we  can  easily 
believe  to  have  been  contemporaneous  successors  of  a  com- 
mon, though,  it  may  be  even  then,  remote  stock.  Such  are 
the  Jews,  Egyptians,  Chaldeans,  and  Assyrians.  The  histories 
of  these  nations  are  connected  with  and  confirm  each  other. 
Their  languages,  or  most  of  them,  have  certain  affinities,  which 


116  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

glossologists,  on  independent  grounds,  have  regarded  as  affini- 
ties implying  an  original  connection.  Their  chronologies, 
though  in  many  respects  discrepant,  are  not  incapable  of 
being  reduced  into  an  harmony  by  very  probable  suppositions. 
Here  we  have  a  very  early  view  of  the  condition  of  a  portion 
of  the  earth  as  the  habitation  of  man,  and  perhaps  a  sugges- 
tion of  a  condition  earlier  still. 

22.  It  is  true,  that  there  are  other  nations  also,  which  claim 
an  antiquity  for  their  civilization  equal  to  or  greater  than  thjit 
which  we  can  ascribe  to  these.  Such  are  the  Indians  and  the 
Chinese.  But  while  we  do  not  question  that  these  nations 
were  at  a  remote  period  in  possession  of  arts,  knowledge,  and 
regular  polity,  in  a  very  eminent  degree,  we  are  not  at  all 
called  upon  to  assent  to  the  immense  numbers,  tens  of  thou- 
sands and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years,  by  which  such  na- 
tions, in  their  histories,  express  their  antiquity.  For,  in  the 
first  place,  such  numbers  are  easily  devised  and  transferred  to 
the  obscure  early  stages  of  tradition,  when  the  art  of  numera- 
tion is  once  become  familiar.  These  vast  intervals,  applied  to 
series  of  blank  genealogies,  or  idle  fables,  gratify  the  popular 
appetite  for  numerical  wonders,  but  have  little  claim  on  crit- 
ical conviction. 

23.  And  in  the  next  place,  we  discover  that  not  enumeration 
only,  but  a  more  recondite  art,  had  a  great  share  in  the  fab- 
rication of  these  gigantic  numbers  of  years.  Some  of  the 
nations  of  whom  we  have  thus  spoken,  the  Indians,  for  exam- 
ple, had,  at  an  early  period,  possessed  themselves  of  a  large 
share  of  astronomical  knowledge.  They  had  observed  and 
examined  the  motions  of  the  Sun,  the  Moon,  the  Planets,  and 
the  Stars,  till  they  had  discovered  Cycles,  in  which,  after  long 
and  seemingly  irregular  wanderings  in  the  skies,  the  heavenly 
bodies  came  round  again  to  known   and  regular  positions. 


THE    ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  117 

They  had  thus  detected  the  order  that  reigns  in  the  seeming 
disorder ;  and  had,  by  this  means,  enabled  themselves  to  know 
beforehand  when  certain  astronomical  events  would  occur; 
certain  configurations  of  the  Planets,  for  instance,  and  eclipses ; 
and  knowing  how  such  events  would  occur  in  future,  they  were 
also  able  to  calculate  how  the  like  events  had  occurred  in  the 
past.  They  could  thus  determine  what  eclipses  and  what 
planetary  configurations  had  occurred,  in  thousands  and  tens 
of  thousands  of  years  of  past^  time ;  and  could,  if  they  were 
disposed  to  falsify  their  early  histories,  and  to  confirm  the  fal- 
sification by  astronomical  evidence,  do  so  with  a  very  near  ap- 
proximation to  astronomical  truth.  Such  astronomical  con- 
firmation of  their  assertions,  so  incapable  in  any  common 
apprehension  of  being  derived  from  any  other  source  than 
actual  observation  of  the  fact,  naturally  produced  a  great  ef- 
fect upon  common  minds  ;  and  still  more,  on  those  who  ex- 
amined the  astronomical  fact,  enough  only  to  see  that  it  was, 
approximately,  at  least,  true.  But  in  recent  times  the  fal- 
lacy of  this  evidence  has  been  shown,  and  the  fabrication 
detected.  For  though  the  astronomical  rules  which  they  had 
devised  were  approximately  true,  they  were  true  approxi- 
mately only.  The  more  exact  researches  of  modern  European 
astronomy  discovered  that  their  cycles,  though  nearly  exact, 
were  not  quite  so.  There  was  in  them  an  error  which  made 
the  cycle,  at  every  revolution  of  its  period,  when  it  was  ap- 
plied to  past  ages,  more  and  more  wrong  ;  so  that  the  astro- 
nomical events  which  they  asserted  to  have  happened,  as  they 
had  calculated  that  they  would  have  happened,  the  better  in 
formed  astronomer  of  our  day  knows  would  not  have  happened 
exactly  so,  but  in  a  manner  differing  more  and  more  from 
their  statement,  as  the  event  was  more  and  more  remote. 
And  thus  the  fact  which  they  asserted  to  have  been  observed, 


118  THE     ILURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

had  not  really  happened  ;  and  the  confirmation,  which  it  had 
been  supposed  to  lend  to  their  history,  disappeared.  And 
thus,  there  is  not,  in  the  asserted  antiquity  of  Indian  civiliza- 
tion and  Indian  astronomy,  anything  which  has  a  well-founded 
claim  to  disturb  our  belief  that  the  nations  of  the  more  western 
regions  of  Asia  had  a  civilization  as  ancient  as  theirs.  And 
considerations  of  nearly  the  same  kind  may  be  applied  to  the 
very  remote  astronomical  facts  which  are  recorded  as  having 
been  observed  in  the  history  of  some  others  of  the  ancient 
nations  above  mentioned. 

24.  Still  less  need  we  be  disturbed  by  the  long  series  of 
dynasties,  each  occupying  a  large  period  of  years,  which  the 
Egyptians  are  said  to  have  inserted  in  their  early  history,  so 
as  to  carry  their  origin  beyond  the  earliest  times  which  I  have 
mentioned.  If  they  spoke  of  the  Greek  nations  as  children  com- 
pared with  their  own  long-continued  age,  as  Plato  says  they  did, 
a  few. thousands  of  years  of  previous  existence  would  well  entitle 
them  to  do  so.  So  far  as  such  a  period  goes,  their  monuments 
and  their  hieroglyphical  inscriptions  give  a  reality  to  their 
pretensions,  which  we  may  very  willingly  grant.  And  even 
the  history  of  the  Jews  supposes  that  the  Egyptians  had  at- 
tained a  high  point  in  arts,  government,  knowledge,  when 
Abraham,  the  father  of  the  Jewish  nation,  was  still  leading  the 
life  of  a  nomad.  Bat  this  supposition  is  not  inconsistent  with 
the  account  which  the  Jewish  Scriptures  give,  of  the  origin  of 
nations ;  especially  if,  as  we  have  said,  we  abstain  from  any 
rigid  and  narrow  interpretation  of  the  chronology  of  those 
scriptures  ;  as  on  every  ground,  it  is  prudent  to  do. 

25.  It  appears  then  not  unreasonable  to  believe,  that  a  very 
few  thousands,  or  even  a  few  hundreds  of  years  before  the 
time  of  Abraham,  the  nations  of  central  and  western  Asia 
ofier  to  us  the  oldest  aspect  of  the  life  of  man  upon  the  earth ; 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  119 

and  that  in  reasoning  concerning  the  antiquity  of  the  human 
race,  we  may  suppose  that  at  that  period,  he  was  in  the 
earliest  stages  of  his  existence.  Although,  in  truth,  if  we 
were  to  accept  the  antiquity  claimed  by  the  Egyptians,  the 
Indians,  or  the  Chinese,  the  nature  of  our  argument  would  not 
be  materially  altered  ;  for  ten  thousand,  or  even  twenty  thou- 
sand years,  bears  a  very  small  proportion  to  the  periods  of 
time  which  geology  requires  for  the  revolutions  which  she  de- 
scribes ;  and,  as  I  have  said,  we  have  geological  evidence  also, 
to  show  how  brief  the  human  period  has  been,  when  com 
pared  with  the  period  v/hich  preceded  the  existence  of  man. 
And  if  this  be  so  ;  if  such  peoples  as  those  who  have  left  to 
us  the  monuments  of  Egypt  and  of  Assyria,  the  pyramids 
and  ancient  Thebes,  the  walls  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  were 
the  first  nations  which  lived  as  nations ;  or  if  they  were  sepa- 
rated from  such  only  by  the  interval  by  which  the  Germans 
of  to-day  are  separated  from  the  Germans  of  Tacitus ;  we 
may  well  repeat  our  remark,  that  the  history  of  man,  in  the 
earliest  times,  is  as  truly  a  history  of  a  wonderful,  intellectual, 
social,  political,  spiritual  creature,  as  it  is  at  present.  We 
see,  in  the  monmnents  of  those  periods,  evidences  so  great 
and  so  full  of  skill,  that  even  now,  they  amaze  us,  of  arts,  gov- 
ernment, property,  thought,  the  love  of  beauty,  the  recog- 
nition of  deity ;  evidences  of  memory,  foresight,  power.  If 
London  or  Berlin  were  now  destroyed,  overwhelmed,  and, 
four  thousand  years  hence,  disinterred,  these  cities  would  not 
afford  stronger  testimony  of  those  attributes,  as  existing  in 
modern  Europeans,  than  we  have  of  such  qualities  in  the 
ancient  Babylonians  and  Egy|)tians.  The  history  of  man,  as 
that  of  a  creature  pre-eminent  in  the  creation,  is  equally  such, 
however  far  back  we  carry  our  researches. 

26.  Nor  is  there  anything  to  disturb  this  view,  in  the  fact 


120  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

of  the  existence  of  the  uncultured  and  barbarous  tribes  which 
occupy,  and  always  have  occupied,  a  large  portion  of  the 
earth's  surface.  For,  in  the  first  place,  there  is  not,  in  the 
aspect  of  the  fact,  or  in  the  information  which  history  gives 
us,  any  reason  to  believe  that  such  tribes  exhibit  a  form  of 
human  existence,  which,  in  the  natural  order  of  progress,  is 
earlier  than  the  forms  of  civilized  life,  of  which  we  have 
spoken.  The  opinion  that  the  most  savage  kind  of  human 
life,  least  acquainted  with  arts,  and  least  provided  with  re- 
sources, is  the  state  of  nature  out  of  which  civilized  life  has 
everywhere  gradually  emerged,  is  an  opinion  which,  though  at 
one  time  popular,  is  unsupported  by  proof,  and  contrary  to 
probability.*  Savage  tribes  do  not  so  grow  into  civilization  ; 
their  condition  is,  far  more  probably,  a  condition  of  civiliza- 
tion degraded  and  lost,  than  of  civilization  incipient  and  pro- 
spective. Add  to  this,  that  if  we  were  to  assume  that  this 
were  otherwise  ;  if  man  thus  originally  and  naturally  savage, 
did  also  naturally  tend  to  become  civilized ;  this  tendency  is 
an  endowment  no  less  wonderful,  than  those  endowments 
which  civilization  exhibits.  The  capacity  is  as  extraordinary 
as  the  developed  result ;  for  the  capacity  involves  the  result. 
If  savage  man  be  the  germ  of  the  most  highly  civilized  man, 
he  differs  from  all  other  animal  germs,  as  man  differs  from 
brute.  And  add  to  this  again,  that  in  the  tribes  which  we  call 
savage,  and  whose  condition  most  differs,  in  external  circum- 
stances, from  ours,  there  are,  after  all,  a  vast  mass  of  human 
attributes  :    thought,    purpose,    language,    family   relations ; 

*  A  recent  popular  writer,  who  has  asserted  the  self-eiviliziag  ten- 
dency of  man,  has  not  been  able,  it  would  seem,  to  adduce  any  ex- 
ample of  the  operation  of  this  tendency,  except  a  single  tribe  of  ISTorth 
American  Indians,  in  whom  it  operated  for  a  short  time,  and  to  a  small 
extent. 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  121 

generally  property,  law,  government,  contract,  arts,  and 
knowledge,  to  no  small  extent ;  and  in  almost  every  case,  re- 
ligion. Even  uncivilized  man  is  an  intellectual,  moral,  social, 
religious  creature ;  nor  is  there,  in  his  condition,  any  reason 
why  he  may  not  be  a  spiritual  creature,  in  the  highest  sense  in 
which  the  most  civilized  man  can  be  so. 

27.  Here  then  we  are  brought  to  the  view  which,  it  would 
seem,  offers  a  complete  reply  to  the  difficulty,  which  astronom- 
ical discoveries  appeared  to  place  in  the  way  of  religion  : — 
the  difficulty  of  the  opinion  that  man,  occupying  this  speck  of 
earth,  which  is  but  as'  an  atom  in  the  Universe,  surrounded  by 
millions  of  other  globes,  larger,  and,  to  appearance,  nobler 
than  that  which  he  inhabits,  should  be  the  object  of  the 
peculiar  care  and  guardianship,  of  the  favor  and  government, 
of  the  Creator  of  All,  in  the  way  in  which  Religion  teaches  us 
tnat  He  is.  For  we  find  that  man,  (the  human  race,  from  its 
first  origin  till  now,)  has  occupied  but  an  atom  of  time,  as  he 
has  occupied  but  an  atom  of  space : — that  as  he  is  surrounded 
by  myriads  of  globes  which  may,  like  this,  be  the  habitations 
of  living  things,  so  he  has  been  preceded,  on  this  earth,  by 
myriads  of  generations  of  living  things,  not  possibly  or  prob- 
ably only,  but  certainly  ;  and  yet  that,  comparing  his  history 
with  theirs,  he  has  been,  certainly  has  been  fitted  to  be,  the 
object  of  the  care  and  guardianship,  of  the  favor  and  govern- 
ment, of  the  Master  and  Governor  of  All,  in  a  manner  en- 
tirely different  from  anything  which  it  is  possible  to  believe 
with  regard  to  the  countless  generations  of  brute  creatures 
which  had  gone  before  him.  If  we  will  doubt  or  overlook  the 
difference  between  man  and  brutes,  the  difficulty  of  ascribing 
to  man  peculiar  privileges,  is  made  as  great  by  the  revelations 
of  geology,  as  of  astronomy.  The  scale  of  man's  insignifi- 
cance is,  as  we  have  said,  of  the  same  order  in  reference  to 

6 


122  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

time,  as  to  space.  There  i'  nothing  which  at  all  goes  beyond 
the  magnitude  which  observation  and  reasoning  suggest  for 
geological  periods,  in  supposing  that  the  tertiary  strata  occu- 
pied, in  their  deposition  and  elevation,  a  period  as  much 
greater  than  the  period  of  human  history,  as  the  solar  system 
is  larger  than  the  earth : — that  the  secondary  strata  were  as 
much  longer  than  these  in  their  formation,  as  the  nearest  fixed 
star  is  more  distant  than  the  sun  : — that  the  still  earlier  masses, 
call  them  primary,  or  protozoic,  or  what  we  will,  did,  in  their 
production,  extend  through  a  period  of  time  as  vast,  compared 
with  the  secondary  period,  as  the  most '  distant  nebula  is  re- 
moter than  the  nearest  star.  If  the  earth,  as  the  habitation 
of  man,  is  a  speck  in  the  midst  of  an  infinity  of  space,  the 
earth,  as  the  habitation  of  man,  is  also  a  speck  at  the  end  of 
an  infinity  of  time.  If  we  are  as  nothing  in  the  surrounding 
universe,  we  are  as  nothing  in  the  elapsed  eternity;  or  rather, 
in  the  elapsed  organic  antiquity,  during  which  the  earth  has 
existed  and  been  the  abode  of  life.  If  man  is  but  one  small 
family  in  the  midst  of  innumerable  possible  households,  he  is 
also  but  one  small  family,  the  successor  of  innumerable  tribes 
of  animals,  not  possible  only,  but  actual.  If  the  planets  may 
be  the  seats  of  life,  we  know  that  the  seas  which  have  given 
birth  to  our  mountains  were  the  seats  of  life.  If  the  stars  may 
have  hundreds  of  systems  of  tenanted  planets  rolling  round 
them,  we  know  that  the  secondary  group  of  rocks  does  contain 
hundreds  of  tenanted  beds,  witnessing  of  as  many  systems  of 
organic  creation.  If  the  nebulae  may  be  planetary  systems  in 
the  course  of  formation,  we  know  that  the  primary  and  transi 
tion  rocks  either  show  us  the  earth  in  the  course  of  formation, 
as  the  future  seat  of  life,  or  exhibit  such  life  as  already  begun. 
28.  IIow  far  that  which  astronomy  thus  asserts  as  possible, 
is  probable : — what  is  the  value  of  these  possibilities  of  life  in 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  123 

distant  regions  of  the  universe,  we  shall  hereafter  consider. 
But  in  what  geology  asserts,  the  case  is  clear.  It  is  no  possi- 
bility, but  a  certainty.  No  one  will  now  doubt  that  shells  and 
skeletons,  trunks  and  leaves,  prove  animal  and  vegetable  life 
to  have  existed.  Even,  therefore,  if  Astronomy  could  de- 
monstrate all  that  her  most  fanciful  disciples  assume,  Geology 
would  still  have  a  complete  right  to  claim  an  equal  hearing ; 
' — ^to  insist  upon  having  her  analogies  regarded.  She  would 
have  a  right  to  answer  the  questions  of  Astronomy,  when  she 
says.  How  can  we  believe  this  ?  and  to  have  her  answers  ac- 
cepted. 

29.  Astrononay  claims  a  sort  of  dignity  over  all  other  sci- 
ences, from,  her  antiquity.^  her  certainty^  and  the  vastness  of  her 
discoveries.  But  the  antiquity  of  astronomy  as  a  science  had 
no  share  in  such  speculations  as  we  are  discussing  ;  and  if  it 
had  had,  new  truths  are  better  than  old  conjectures ;  new  dis- 
coveries must  rectify  old  errors ;  new  answers  must  remove 
old  difficulties.  The  vigorous  youth  of  Geology  makes  her 
fearless  of  the  age  of  Astronomy.  And  as  to  the  certainty  of 
Astronomy,  it  has  just  as  little  to  do  with  these  speculations. 
The  certainty  stops,  just  when  these  speculations  begin.  There 
may,  indeed,  be  some  danger  of  delusion  on  this  subject.  Men 
have  been  so  long  accustomed  to  look  upon  astronomical  sci- 
ence as  the  mother  of  certainty,  that  they  may  confound  as- 
tronomical discoveries  w^ith  cosmological  conjectures ;  though 
these  be  slightly  and  illogically  connected  with  those.  And 
then,  as  to  the  vastness  of  astronomical  discoveries, — granting 
that  character,  inasmuch  as  it  is  to  a  certain  degree,  a  matter 
of  measurement, — we  must  observe,  that  the  discoveries  of 
geology  are  no  less  vast :  they  extend  through  time,  as  those 
of  astronomy  do  through  space.  They  carry  us  through  mill- 
ions of  years,  that  is,  of  the  earth's  revolutions,  as  those  of 


124  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

astronom}  Jo  through  millions  of  the  earth's  diameters,  or  of 
diameters  of  the  earth's  orbit.  Geology  fills  the  regions  of 
duration  wHh  events,  as  astronomy  fills  the  regions  of  the  uni- 
verse with  objects.  She  carries  us  backwards  by  the  relation 
of  cause  and  effect,  as  astronomy  carries  us  upwards  by  the  re- 
lations of  geometry.  As  astronomy  steps  on  from  point  to 
point  of  the  universe  by  a  chain  of  triangles,  so  geology  steps 
from  epoch  to  epoch  of  the  earth's  history  by  a  chain  of  me- 
chanical and  organical  laws.  If  the  one  depends  on  the  axioms 
of  geometry,  the  other  depends  on  the  axioms  of  causation. 

30.  So  far  then.  Geology  has  no  need  to  regard  Astronomy 
as  her  superior  ;  and  least  of  all,  when  they  apply  themselves 
together  to  speculations  like  these.  But  in  truth,  in  such  spec- 
ulations. Geology  has  an  immeasurable  sujoeriority.  She  has 
the  command  of  an  implement,  in  addition  to  all  that  Astron- 
omy can  use ;  and  one,  for  the  purpose  of  such  speculations, 
adapted  far  beyond  any  astronomical  element  of  discovery. 
She  has,  for  one  of  her  studies, — one  of  her  means  of  dealing 
with  her  problems, — the  knowledge  of  Life,  animal  and  vege- 
table. Vital  organization  is  a  subject  of  attention  which  has, 
in  mrMlern  times,  been  forced  upon  her.  It  is  now  one  of  the 
main  parts  of  her  discipline.  The  geologist  must  study  the 
traces  of  life  in  every  form  ;  must  learn  to  decypher  its  faint- 
<ist  indications  and  its  fullest  development.  On  the  question, 
then,  whether  there  be  in  this  or  that  quarter,  evidence  of  life, 
he  can  speak  with  the  confidence  derived  from  familiar  knowl- 
edge ;  while  the  astronomer,  to  whom  such  studies  are  utterly 
foreign,  because  he  has  no  facts  which  bear  upon  them,  can  of- 
fer, on  such  questions,  only  the  loosest  and  most  arbitrary  con- 
jectures ;  which,  as  we  have  had  to  remark,  have  been  rebuked 
by  eminent  men,  as  being  altogether  inconsistent  with  the  ao- 
knowleda;ed  maxims  of  his  science. 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  1 J5 

31.  When,  therefore,  Geology  tells  us  that  the  earth,  which 
has  been  the  seat  of  human  life  for  a  few  thousand  years  only, 
has  been  the  seat  of  animal  life  for  myriads,  it  may  be,  mill- 
ions of  years,  she  has  a  right  to  offer  this,  as  an  answer  to  anyj 
difficulty  which  Astronomy,  or  the  readers  of  astronomical' 
books,  may  suggest,  derived  from  the  considerations  that  the 
Earth,  the  seat  of  human  life,  is  but  on©  globe  of  a  few  thou- 
sand miles  in  diameter,  among  millions  of  other  globes,  at  dis- 
tances millions  of  times  as  great. 

32.  Let  the  difficulty  be  put  in  any  way  the  objector  pleases. 
Is  it  that  it  is  unworthy  of  the  greatness,  and  majesty  of  God, 
according  to  our  conceptions  of  Him,  to  bestow  such  peculiar 
care  on  so  small  a  part  of  His  creation  1  But  we  know,  from 
geology,  that  He  has  bestowed  upon  this  small  part  of  His  cre- 
ation, mankind,  this  special  care ; — He  has  made  their  period, 
though  only  a  moment  in  the  ages  of  animal  life,  the  only  pe- 
riod of  intelligence,  morality,  religion.  If  then,  to  suppose 
that  He  has  done  this,  is  contrary  to  our  conceptions  of  His 
greatness  and  majesty,  it  is  plain  that  our  conceptions  are  er- 
roneous ;  they  have  taken  a  wrong  direction.  God  has  not 
judged,  as  to  what  is  worthy  of  Him,  as  we  have  judged.  He 
has  found  it  worthy  of  Him  to  bestow  upon  man  His  special 
care,  though  he  occupies  so  small  a  portion  of  time  ;  and  why 
not,  then,  although  he  occupies  so  small  a  portion  of  space  1 

33.  Or  is  the  objection  this  ;  that  if  we  suppose  the  earth 
only  to  be  occupied  by  inhabitants,  all  the  other  globes  of  the 
universe  are  wasted ; — turned  to  no  purpose  1  Is  waste  of  this 
kind  considered  as  unsuited  to  the  character  of  the  Creator  ? 
But  here  again,  we  have  the  like  waste,  in  the  occupation  of 
the  earth.  All  its  previous  ages,  its  seas  and  its  continents, 
have  been  wasted  upon  mere  brute  life  ;  often,  so  far  as  we  can 
see,  for  myriads  of  years,  upon  the  lowest,  the  least  conscious 


126  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

forms  of  life ;  upon  shell-fish,  corals,  sponges.  Why  then 
should  not  the  seas  and  continents  of  other  planets  be  occupied 
at  present  with  a  life  no  higher  than  this,  or  with  no  life  at  all  ? 
Will  it  be  said  that,  so  far  a .  material  objects  are  occupied  by 
life,  they  are  not  wasted  ;  but  that  they  are  wasted,  if  they  are 
entirely  barren  and  blank  of  life  1  This  is  a  very  arbitrary 
saying.  Why  should  the  life  of  a  sponge,  or  a  coral,  or  an 
oyster,  be  regarded  as  a  good  employment  of  a  spot  of  land 
and  water,  so  as  to  save  it  from  being  wasted  1  No  doubt,  if 
the  coral  or  the  oyster  be  there,  there  is  a  reason  why  it  is  so, 
consistently  with  the  attributes  of  God.  But  then,  on  the  same 
ground,  we  may  say  that  if  it  be  not  there,  ther.e  is  a  reason 
why  it  is  not  so.  Such  a  mode  of  regarding  the  parts  of  the 
universe  can  never  give  us  reasons  why  they  should  or  should 
not  be  inhabited,  when  we  have  no  other  grounds  for  knowing 
whether  they  are.  If  it  be  a  sufficient  employment  of  a  spot 
of  rock  or  water  that  it  is  the  seat  of  organization — of  organic 
powers ;  why  may  it  not  be  a  sufficient  employment  of  the 
same  spot  that  it  is  the  seat  of  attraction,  of  cohesion,  of  crys- 
taline  powers  1  All  the  planets,  all  parts  of  the  universe,  we 
have  good  reason  to  believe,  are  pervaded  by  attraction,  by 
forces  of  aggregation  and  atomic  relation,  by  light  and  heat. 
Why  may  not  these  be  sufficient  to  prevent  the  space  being 
wasted,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Creator  1  as,  during  a  great  part  of 
the  earth's  past  history,  and  over  large  portions  of  its  present 
mass,  they  are  actually  held  by  Him  sufficient ;  for  they  are 
all  that  occupy  those  portions.  This  notion,  then,  of  the  im- 
probability of  there  being,  in  the  universe,  so  vast  an  amount 
of  waste  spaces,  or  waste  bodies,  as  is  implied  in  the  opinion 
that  the  earth  alone  is  the  seat  of  life,  or  of  intelligence,  is  con- 
futed by  the  fact,  that  there  are  vast  spaces,  waste  districts, 
and  especially  waste  times,  to  an  extent  as  great  as  such  a  no- 


THE     ARGUMENT    FROM     GEOLOGY.  127 

tion  deems  improbable.  The  avoidance  of  such  waste,  accord- 
ing to  our  notions  of  waste,  is  no  part  of  the  economy  of  cre- 
ation, so  far  as  we  can  discern  that  economy,  in  its  most  cer- 
tain exemplifications. 

34.  Or  will  the  objection  be  made  in  this  way  ;  that  such  a 
peculiar  dignity  and  importance  given  to  the  earth  is  contrary 
to  the  analogy  of  creation ; — that  since  there  are  so  many 
globes,  similar  to  the  earth, — ^like  her,  revolving  round  the 
sun,  like  her,  revolving  on  her  axes,  several  of  them,  like  her, 
accompanied  by  satellites ;  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
their  destination  and  office  is  the  same  as  hers ; — that  since 
there  are  so  many  stars,  each  like  the  sun,  a  source  of  light, 
and  probably  of  heat,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that,  like 
the  sun,  they  are  the  centres  of  systems  of  planets,  to  which 
their  light  and  heat  are  imparted,  to  uphold  life : — is  it  thought 
that  such  a  resemblance  is  a  strong  ground  for  believing  that 
the  planets  of  our  system,  and  of  other  systems,  are  inhabited 
as  the  earth  is  "?  If  such  an  astronomical  analogy  be  insisted 
on,  we  must  again  have  recourse  to  geology,  to  see  what  such 
analogy  is  worth.  And  then,  we  are  led  to  reflect,  that  if  we 
were  to  follow  such  analogies,  we  should  be  led  to  suppose 
that  all  the  successive  periods  of  the  earth's  history  were  oc- 
cupied with  life  of  tht.  same  order ;  that  as  the  earth,  in  its 
present  condition,  is  the  seat  of  an  intelligent  population,  so 
must  it  have  been,  in  all  former  conditions.  The  earth,  in  its 
former  conditions,  was  able  and  fitted  to  support  life  ;  even 
the  life  of  creatures  closely  resembling  man  in  their  bodily 
structure.  Even  of  monkeys,  fossil  remains  have  been  found. 
But  yet,  in  those  former  conditions,  it  did  not  support  human 
life.  Even  those  geologists  who  have  dwelt  most  on  the  dis- 
covery of  fossil  monkeys,  and  other  animals  nearest  to  man, 
h«jve  \iot  dreamt  that  there  existed,  before  man,  a  race  of 


128  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

rational,  intelligent,  and  progressive  creatures.  As  we  have 
seen,  geology  and  history  alike  refute  such  a  fancy.  The 
notion,  then,  that  one  period  of  time  in  the  history  of  the 
earth  must  resemble  another,  in  the  character  of  its  popula- 
tion, because  it  resembles  it  in  physical  circumstances,  is  neg- 
atived by  the  facts  which  we  discover  in  the  Mstory  of  the 
earth.  And  so,  the  notion  that  one  part  of  the  universe  must 
resemble  another  in  its  population,  because  it  resembles  it  in 
physical  circumstances,  is  negatived  as  a  law  of  creation. 
Analogy,  further  examined,  affords  no  sujDport  to  such  a 
notion.  The  analogy  of  time,  the  events  of  which  we  know, 
corrects  all  such  guesses  founded  on  a  supposed  analogy  of 
space,  the  furniture  of  which,  so  far  as  this  point  is  concerned, 
we  have  no  sufficient  means  of  examining. 

35.  But  in  truth,  we  may  go  further.  Not  only  does  the 
analogy  of  creation  not  point  to  any  such  entire  resemblance 
of  similar  parts,  as  is  thus  assumed,  but  it  pomts  in  the  op- 
posite direction.  Not  entire  resemblance,  but  universal  dif- 
ference is  what  we  discover;  not  the  repetition  of  exactly 
similar  cases,  but  a  series  of  cases  perpetually  dissimiliar, 
presents  itself;  not  constancy,  but  change,  perhaps  advance ; 
not  one  permanent  and  pervading  scheme,  but  preparation 
and  completion  of  successive  schemes ;  not  uniformity  and  a 
fixed  type  of  existences,  but  progression  and  a  climax.  This 
may  be  said  to  be  the  case  in  the  geological  aspect  of  thp 
world;  for,  without  occupying  ourselves  with  the  questioi:, 
how  far  the  monuments  of  animal  life,  which  we  find  preser  ed 
in  the  earth's  strata,  exhibited  a  gradual  progression  from 
ruder  and  more  imperfect  forms  to  the  types  of  the  present  ter- 
restrial population ;  from  sponges  and  mollusks,  to  fish  and 
lizards,  from  cold-blooded  to  warm  blooded  animals,  and  so 
on,  till  we  come  to  the  most  perfect  vertebrates  j — a  doctrine 


IHE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  129 

which  many  eminent  geologists  have  held,  and  still  hold  ; — 
without  discussing  this  question,  or  assuming  that  the  fact  is 
so  ;  this  at  least  cannot  be  denied  or  doubted,  that  man  is  in- 
comparably the  most  perfect  and  highly-endowed  creature 
which  ever  has  existed  on  the  earth.  How  far  previous  pe- 
riods of  animal  existence  were  a  necessary  preparation  of  the 
earth,  as  the  habitation  of  man,  or  a  gradual  progression  to- 
wards the  existence  of  man,  we  need  not  now  inquire.  But 
this  at  least  we  may  say ;  that  man,  now  that  he  is  here, 
forms  a  climax  to  all  that  has  preceded  ;  a  term  incompar- 
ably exceeding  in  value  all  the  previous  parts  of  the  series ; 
a  complex  and  ornate  capital  to  the  subjacent  column  ;  a  per- 
sonage of  vastly  greater  dignity  and  importance  than  all  the 
preceding  line  of  tJie  procession.  The  analogy  of  nature,  in 
this  case  at  least,  appears  to  be,  that  there  should  be  inferior, 
as  well  as  superior  provinces,  in  the  universe ;  and  that  the 
inferior  may  occupy  an  immensely  larger  portion  of  time 
than  the  superior ;  why  not  then  of  space  1  The  intelligent 
part  of  creation  is  thrust  into  the  compass  of  a  few  years,  in 
the  course  of  myriads  of  ages ;  why  not  then  into  the  compass 
of  a  few  miles,  in  the  expanse  of  systems  "?  The  earth  was 
brute  and  inert,  compared  with  its  present  condition,  dark  and 
chaotic,  so  far  as  the  light  of  reason  and  intelligence  are  con- 
cerned, for  countless  centuries  before  man  was  created.  Why 
then  may  not  other  parts  of  creation  be  still  in  this  brute  and 
inert  and  chaotic  state,  while  the  earth  is  under  the  influence 
of  a  higher  exercise  of  creative  power  1  If  the  earth  was,  for 
ages,  a  turbid  abyss  of  lava  and  of  mud,  why  may  not  Mars 
or  Saturn  be  so  sti',1'?  If  the  germs  of  life  were,  gradually, 
and  at  long  intervals,  inserted  in  the  terrestrial  slime,  why 
may  they  not  be  just  inserted,  or  not  yet  inserted,  in  Jupiter  ? 
Or  why  should  we  assume  that  the  condition  of  those  planets 

6* 


180  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

resembles  ours,  even  so  far  as  such  suppositions  imply? 
Why  may  they  not,  some  or  all  of  them,  be  barren  masses  of 
stone  and  metal,  slag  and  scoriae,  dust  and  cinders  1  That 
some  of  them  are  composed  of  such  materials,  we  have  better 
reason  to  believe,  than  we  have  to  believe  anything  else  re- 
specting their  physical  constitution,  as  we  shall  hereafter  en 
deavor  to  show.  If  then,  the  earth  be  the  sole  inhabited  spot 
in  the  work  of  creation,  the  oasis  in  the  desert  of  our  system, 
there  is  nothing  in  this  contrary  to  the  analogy  of  creation. 
But  if,  in  some  way  which  perhaps  we  cannot  discover,  the 
earth  obtained,  for  accompaniments,  mere  chaotic  and  barren 
masses,  as  conditions  of  coming  into  its  present  state ;  as  it 
may  have  required,  for  aceompaniments,  the  brute  and  im- 
perfect races  of  former  animals,  as  conditions  of  coming  into 
its  present  state,  as  the  habitation  of  man ;  the  analogy  is 
against,  and  not  in  favor  of,  the  belief  that  they  too  (the  other 
masses,  the  planets,  &c.)  are  habitations.  I  may  hereafter 
dwell  more  fully  on  such  speculations  ;  but  the  possibility  that 
the  planets  are  such  rude  masses,  is  quite  as  tenable,  on  as- 
tronomical grounds,  as  the  possibility  that  the  planets  resem- 
ble the  earth,  in  matters  of  which  astronomy  can  tell  us  no- 
thing. We  say,  therefore,  that  the  example  of  geology  re- 
futes the  argument  drawn  from  the  supposed  analogy  of  one 
part  of  the  imiverse  with  another  ;  and  suggests  a  strong  sus- 
picion that  the  force  of  analogy,  better  known,  may  tend  in 
the  opposite  direction. 

36.  When  such  possibilities  are  presented  to  the  reader,  he 
may  naturally  ask,  if  we  are  thus  to  regard  man  as  the  climax 
of  creation,  in  space,  as  in  time,  can  we  point  out  any  char- 
acters belonging  to  him,  which  may  tend  to  make  it  conceiv- 
able that  the  Creator  should  thus  distinguish  him,  and  care  for 
him  : — should  prepare  his  habitation  if  it  be  so,  by  ages  of  cha- 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  131 

otic  and  rudimentary  life,  and  by  accompanying  orbs  of  brute 
and  barren  matter.  If  Man  be,  thus,  the  head,  the  crowned 
head  of  the  creation,  is  he  worthy  to  be  thus  elevated  ?  Has 
he  any  qualities  which  make  it  conceivable  that,  with  such  an 
array  of  preparation  and  accompaniment,  he  should  be  placed 
upon  the  earth,  his  throne '?  Or  rather,  if  he  be  thus  the 
chosen  subject  of  God's  care,  has  he  any  qualities,  which 
make  it  conceiveable  that  he  should  be  thus  selected ;  taken 
under  such  guardianship;  admitted  to  such  a  dispensation; 
graced  with  such  favor.  The  question  with  which  we  began 
again  recurs :  What  is  man  that  God  should  be  thus  mindful 
of  him  1  After  the  views  which  have  been  presented  to  us, 
does  any  answer  now  occur  to  us  1 

87.  The  answer  which  we  have  to  give,  is  that  which  we 
have  already  repeatedly  stated.  Man  is  an  intellectual,  moral, 
religious,  and  spiritual  creature.  If  we  consider  these  attri- 
butes, we  shall  see  that  they  are  such  as  to  give  him  a  special 
relation  to  God.  and  as  we  conceive,  and  must  conceive,  God 
to  be ;  and  may  therefore  be,  in  God,  the  occasion  of  special 
guardianship,  special  regard,  a  special  dispensation  towards 
man. 

38.  As  an  intellectual  creature,  he  has  not  only  an  intelli 
gence  which  he  can  apply  to  practical  uses,  to  minister  to  the 
needs  of  animal  and  social  life  ;  but  also  an  intellect  by  which 
he  can  speculate  about  the  relations  of  things,  in  their  most 
general  form ;  for  instance,  the  properties  of  space  and  time, 
the  relations  of  finite  and  infinite.  He  can  discover  truths,  to 
which  all  things,  existing  in  space  and  time,  must  conform. 
These  are  conditions  of  existence  to  which  the  creation  con- 
forms, that  is,  to  which  the  Creator  conforms ;  and  man,  capa- 
ble of  seeing  that  such  conditions  are  true  and  necessary,  is 
capable,  so  far,  of  understanding  some  of  the  conditions  of 


132  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

the  Creator's  workmanship.  In  this  way,  the  mind  of  man 
has  some  community  with  the  mind  of  God  ;  and  however  re- 
mote and  imperfect  this  community  may  be,  it  must  be  real. 
Since,  then,  man  has  thus,  in  his  intellect,  an  element  of  com- 
munity with  God,  it  is  so  far  conceivable  that  he  should  be, 
in  a  special  manner,  the  object  of  God's  care  and  favor.  The 
human  mind,  with  its  wonderful  and  perhaps  illimitable 
powers,  is  something  of  which  we  can  believe  God  to  be 
"  mindful." 

39.  Again  :  man  is  a  moral  creature.  He  recognizes,  he  can- 
not help  recognizmg,  a  distinction  of  right  and  wrong  in  his  ac- 
tions ;  and  in  his  internal  movements  which  lead  to  action. 
This  distinction  he  recognizes  as  the  reason,  the  highest  and 
ultimate  reason,  for  doing  or  for  not  doing.  And  this  law  of 
his  own  reason,  he  is,  by  reflection,  led  to  recognize  as  a  Law 
of  the  Supreme  Reason  ;  of  the  Supreme  Mind  which  has  made 
him  what  he  is.  The  Moral  Law,  he  owns  and  feels  as  God's 
Law.  By  the  obligation  which  he  feels  to  obey  this  Law,  he 
feels '  himself  God's  subject;  placed  under  his  government; 
compelled  to  expect  his  judgment,  his  rewards,  and  punish- 
naents.  By  being  a  moral  creature,  then,  he  is,  in  a  special 
manner,  the  subject  of  God  ;  and  not  only  we  can  believe  that, 
in  this  capacity,  God  cares  for  him ;  but  we  cannot  believe 
that  he  does  not  care  for  him.  He  cares  for  him,  so  as  to  ap- 
prove of  what  he  does  right,  and  to  condemn  what  he  does 
wrong.  And  he  has  given  him,  in  his  own  breast,  an  assur- 
ance that  he  will  do  this ;  and  thus,  God  cares  for  man,  in  a 
peculiar  and  special  manner.  As  a  moral  creature,  we  have 
no  difficulty  in  conceiving  that  God  may  think  him  worthy  of 
his  regard  and  government. 

40.  The  development  of  man's  moral  nature,  as  we  have 
just  described  it,  leads  to,  and  involves  the  development  of 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     GEOLOGY.  i.6o 

his  religious  nature.  By  looking  within  himself,  and  seeing 
the  Moral  Law,  he  learns  to  look  upwards  to  God,  the  Author 
of  the  Law,  and  the  Awarder  of  the  rewards  and  penalties 
which  follow  moral  good  and  evil.  But  the  belief  of  such  a 
dispensation  carries  us,  or  makes  us  long  to  be  carried,  beyond 
the  manifestations  of  this  dispensation,  as  they  appear  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  human  life.  By  thinking  on  such  things, 
man  is  led  to  ascribe  a  wider  range  to  the  moral  Government 
of  God  : — to  believe  in  methods  of  reward  and  punishment, 
which  do  not  appear  in  the  natural  course  of  events :  to  accept 
events,  out  of  the  order  of  nature,  which  announce  that  God 
has  provided  such  methods  :  to  accept  them,  when  duly  au- 
thenticated, as  messages  from  God  ;  and  thus,  when  God  pro- 
vides the  means,  to  allow  himself  to  be  placed  in  intercourse 
with  God.  Since  man  is  capable  of  this  ;  since,  as  a  religious 
creature,  this  is  his  tendency,  his  need,  the  craving  of  his  heart, 
without  which,  when  his  religious  nature  is  fully  unfolded,  he 
can  feel  no  comfort  nor  satisfaction  ;  we  cannot  be  surprised 
that  God  should  deem  him  a  proper  object  of  a  special  fatherly 
care ;  a  fit  subject  for  a  special  dispensation  of  his  purposes, 
as  to  the  consequences  of  human  actions.  Man  being  this,  we 
can  believe  that  God  is  not  only  "  mindful  of  him,"  but  "  vis- 
its  him." 

4L  As  we  have  said,  the  soul  of  man,  regarded  as  the  snX 
ject  of  God's  religious  government,  is  especially  termed  his 
Spirit:  the  course  of  human  being  which  results  from  the  in- 
teit^ourse  'vith  God,  which  God  permits,  is  a  spiritual  existr- 
ence.  Man  is  capable,  in  no  small  degree,  of  such  an  existence, 
of  such  an  intercourse  with  God  ;  and,  as  we  are  authorized  to 
term  it,  of  such  a  life  with  God,  and  in  God,  even  while  he 
continues  in  his  present  human  existence.  I  say  authorized, 
because  such  expressions  are  used,  though  reverently,  by  the 


134  THE    PLURALITY     01'    WORLDS. 

most  religious  men ;  who  are,  at  any  rate,  authority  as  to  their 
own  sentiments ;  which  are  the  basis  of  our  reasoning.  What- 
ever, then,  may  be  the  imperfection,  in  this  life,  of  such  a  union 
with  Gocl,  yet  since  man  can,  when  sufficiently  assisted  and  fa- 
vored by  God,  enter  upon  such  a  union,  we  cannot  but  think  it 
most  credible  and  most  natural,  that  he  should  be  the  object 
of  God's  special  care  and  regard,  even  of  his  love  and  pres- 
ence. 

42.  That  men  are,  only  in  a  comparatively  small  number 
of  cases,  intellectual,  moral,  religious,  and  spiritual,  in  the  de- 
gree which  I  have  described,  does  not,  by  any  means,  deprive 
our  argument  of  its  force.  The  capacity  of  man  is,  that  he 
may  become  this  ;  and  such  a  capacity  may  well  make  him  a 
special  object  in  the  eyes  of  Him  under  whose  guidance  and 
by  whose  aid,  such  a  development  and  elevation  of  his  nature 
is  open  to  him.  However  imperfect  and  degraded,  however 
unintellectual,  immoral,  irreligious,  and  unspiritual,  a  great 
part  of  mtankind  may  be,  still  they  all  have  the  germs  of  such 
an  elevation  of  their  nature;  and  a  large  portion  of  them 
miake,  we  cannot  doubt,  no  small  progress  in  this  career  of 
advancement  to  a  spiritual  condition.  And  with  such  capaci- 
ties, and  such  practical  exercise  of  those  capacities,  we  can 
have  no  difficulty  in  believing,  if  the  evidence  directs  us  to 
believe,  that  that  part  of  the  creation  in  which  man  has  his 
present  appointed  place,  is  the  special  field  of  God's  care  and 
love  ;  by  whatever  wastes  of  space,  and  multitudes  of  material 
bodies,  it  may  be  surrounded  ;  by  whatever  races  it  may  have 
been  previously  occupied,  of  brutes  that  perish,  and  that,  com- 
pared with  man,  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  lived. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  NEBULA. 

1 .  I  HAVE  attempted  to  show  that,  even  if  we  suppose  the  other 
bodies  of  the  universe  to  resemble  the  Earth,  so  far  as  to  seem, 
by  their  materials,  forms,  and  motions,  no  less  fitted  than  she 
is  to  be  the  abodes  of  life ;  yet  that,  knowing  what  we  do  of 
man,  we  can  believe  that  the  Earth  is  tenanted  by  a  race  who 
are  the  special  objects  of  God's  care.  Even  if  the  tendency  of 
the  analogies  of  creation  were,  to  incline  us  to  suppose  that  the 
other  planets  are  as  well  suited  as  our  globe,  to  have  inhab- 
itants, still  it  would  require  a  great  amount  of  evidence,  to 
make  us  believe  that  they  have  such  inhabitants  as  we  are ; 
while  yet  such  evidence  is  altogether  wanting.  Even  if  we 
knew  that  the  stars  were  the  centres  of  revolving  systems,  we 
should  have  an  immense  difficulty  in  believing  that  an  Earth, 
with  such  a  population  as  ours,  revolves  about  any  of  them. 
If  astronomy  made  a  plurality  of  words  probable,  we  have 
strong  reasonings,  drawn  from  other  subjects,  to  think  that  the 
other  worlds  are  not  like  ours. 

2.  The  admirers  of  astronomical  triumphs  may  perhaps  be 
disposed  to  say,  that  when  so  much  has  been  discovered,  we 
may  be  allowed  to  complete  the  scheme  by  the  exercise  of 
fancy.     I  have  attempted  to  show  that  we  are  not  in  such  a 


136  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

state  of  ignorance,  when  we  look  at  other  relations  of  the  earth 
and  of  man,  as  to  allow  us  to  do  this.  But  now  we  may  go 
a  little  onwards  in  our  argument ;  and  may  ask,  whether  As- 
tronomy really  does  what  is  here  claimed  for  her : — whether 
she  carries  us  so  securely  to  the  bounds  of  the  visible  universe, 
that  our  Fancy  may  take  up  the  task,  and  people  the  space 
thus  explored  : — whether  the  bodies  which  Astronomy  has  ex- 
amined, be  really  as  fitted  as  our  Earth,  to  sustain  a  population 
of  living  things : — whether  the  most  distant  objects  in  the  uni- 
verse do  really  seem  to  be  systems,  or  the  beginnings  of  sys- 
tems : — whether  Astronomy  herself  may  not  incline  in  favor 
of  the  condition  of  man,  as  being  the  sole  creature  of  his 
kindl 

3.  In  making  this  inquiry,  it  will  of  course  be  understood, 
that  I  do  so  with  the  highest  admiration  for  the  vast  discover- 
ies which  Astronomy  has  really  made ;  and  for  the  marvellous 
skill  and  invention  of  the  great  men  who  have,  in  all  ages  of  the 
world,  and  not  least,  in  our  time,  been  the  authors  of  such  dis- 
coveries. From  the  time  when  Galileo  first  discovered  the 
system  of  Jupiter's  satellites,  to  the  last  scrutiny  of  the  struc- 
ture of  a  nebula  by  Lord  Rosse's  gigantic  telescope,  the  his- 
tory of  the  telescopic  exploration  of  the  sky,  has  been  a  his 
tory  of  genius  felicitously  employed  in  revealing  wonders.  In 
this  history,  the  noble  labors  of  the  first  and  the  second  Her- 
schel  relative  to  the  distribution  of  the  fixed  stars,  the  forms 
and  classes  of  nebulae,  and  the  phenocana  of  double  stars,  es- 
pecially bear  upon  our  present  speculation  ;  to  which  we  may 
add,  the  examination  of  the  aspect  of  each  planet,  by  various 
observers,  as  Schroeter,  and  of  the  moon  by  others,  from 
Huyghens  to  Madler  and  Beer.  The  achievements  which 
are  most  likely  to  occur  to  the  reader's  mind  are  those  of  the 
Earl  of  Rosse ;  as  being  the  latest  addition  to  our  knowledge, 


THE    NEBULJ5.  137 

and  the  result  of  the  greatest  instrumental  powers.  By  the 
energy  and  ingenuity  of  that  eminent  person,  an  eye  is  di- 
rected to  the  heavens,  having  a  pupil  of  six  feet  diameter^ with 
the  most  complete  optical  structure,  and  the  power  ot  rangmg  %w 
about  for  its  objects  over  a  great  extent  of  sky  ;  and  thus  the 
quantity  of  light  which  the  eye  receives  from  any  point  of  the 
heavens  is  augmented,  it  may  be,  fifty  thousand  times.  The 
rising  Moon  is  seen  from  the  Observatory  in  Ireland  vvith  the 
same  increase  of  size  and  light,  as  if  her  solid  globe,  two  thou- 
sand miles  in  diameter,  retaining  all  its  illumination,  reallj 
rested  upon  the  summits  of  the  Alps,  to  be  gazed  at  by  tW^b 
naked  eye.  An  object  which  appears  to  the  naked  eye  a  singTe 
star,  may,  by  this  telescope,  so  far  as  its  power  of  seeing  is 
concerned,  be  resolved  into  fifty  thousand  stars,  each  of  the 
same  brightnes  as  the  obvious  star.  What  seems  to  the  unas- 
sisted vision  a  nebula,  a  patch  of  diluted  light,  in  which  no 
distinct  luminous  point  can  be  detected,  may,  by  such  an  instru- 
ment, be  discriminated  or  resolved  into  a  number  of  bright 
dots ;  as  the  stippled  shades  of  an  engraving  are  resolved  into 
dots  by  the  application  of  a  powerful  magnifying  glass.  Sim- 
ilar results  of  the  application  of  great  telescopic  power  had  of 
course  been  attained  long  previously ;  but,  as  the  nature  of 
scientific  research  is,  each  step  adds  something  to  our  means  of 
knowledge  ;  and  the  last  addition  assumes,  includes,  and  aug- 
ments the  knowledge  which  we  possessed  before.  The  dis- 
cussions in  which  we  are  engaged,  belong  to  the  very  boun- 
dary region  of  science ; — to  the  frontier  where  knowledge,  at 
least  astronomical  knowledge,  ends,  and  ignorance  begins. 
Such  discoveries,  therefore,  as  those  made  by  Lord  Rosse's  tele- 
scope, require  our  special  notice  here. 

4.  We  may  begin,  at  what  appears  to  us  the  outskirts  of 
creation,  the  Nebulae.     At  one  time  it  was  conceived  by  as 


138  THE    PLURALITY    OF    WORLDS. 

trouomers  in  general,  that  these  patches  of  diffused  light,  which 
are  seen  by  them  in  such  profusion  in  the  sky,  are  not  lumi- 
nous bodies  of  regular  terms  and  definite  boundaries,  appar- 
ently solid,  as  the  stars  are  supposed  to  be ;  but  really,  as  even 
to  good  telescopes  many  of  them  seem,  masses  of  luminous 
cloud  or  vapor,  loosely  held  together,  as  clouds  and  vapors 
are,  and  not  capable  by  any  powers  of  vision  of  being  resolved 
into  distinct  visible  elements.  This  opinion  was  for  a  time, 
so  confidentially  entertained,  that  there  was  founded  upon  it  an 
hypothesis,  that  these  were  gaseous  masses,  out  of  which  suns 
^,  and  systems  might  afterwards  be  formed,  by  the  concentration 
of  these  luminous  vapors  into  a  solid  central  sun,  more  in- 
tensely luminous ;  while  detached  portions  of  the  mass,  flying 
off,  and  cooling  down  so  as  to  be  no  longer  self-luminous,  might 
revolve  round  the  central  body,  as  planets  and  satellites.  This 
is  the  Nebular  Hypothesis,  suggested  by  the  elder  Herschel, 
and  adopted  by  the  great  mathematician  Laplace. 

5.  But  the  result  of  the  optical  scrutiny  of  the  nebulae  by 
more  modern  observers,  especially  by  Lord  Rosse  in  Ireland, 
and  Mr.  Bond  in  America,  has  been,  that  many  celestial  objects 
which  were  regarded  before  as  truly  nebulous,  have  been  re- 
solved into  stars ;  and  this  resolution  has  been  extended  to  so 
many  cases  of  nebulae,  of  such  various  kinds,  as  to  have  pro- 
duced a  strong  suspicion  in  the  minds  of  astronomers  that  all 
the  nebulae,  however  different  in  their  appearance,  may  really 
be  resolved  into  stars,  if  they  be  attacked  with  optical  powers 
sufficiently  great. 

6.  If  this  were  to  be  assumed  as  done,  and  if  each  of  the 
separate  points,  into  which  the  nebulae  are  thus  resolved,  were 
conceived  to  be  a  star,  which  looks  so  small  only  because  it  is 
so  distant,  and  which  really  is  as  likely  to  have  a  system  of 
planets  revolving  about  it,  as  is  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude  :. 


THE     NEBULA.  139 

— we  should  then  have  a  view  of  the  immensity  of  the  visible 
universe,  such  as  I  presented  to  the  reader  in  the  beginning  of 
this  essay.  All  the  distant  nebulae  appear  as  nebulae,  only 
because  they  are  so  distant ;  if  truly  seen,  they  are  groups  of 
stars,  of  which  each  may  be  as  important  as  our  sun,  being, 
like  it,  the  centre  of  a  planetary  system.  And  thus,  a  patch 
of  the  heavens,  one  hundredth  or  one  thousandth  part  of  the 
visible  breadth  of  our  sun,  may  contain  in  it  more  life,  not  only 
than  exists  in  the  solar  system,  but  in  as  many  such  systems  as 
the  unassisted  eye  can  see  stars  in  the  heavens,  on  the  clearest 
winter  night. 

7.  This  is  a  stupendous  view  of  the  greatness  of  the  crea- 
tion ;  and,  to  many  persons,  its  very  majesty,  derived  from 
magnitude  and  number,  will  make  it  so  striking  and  acceptable, 
that,  once  apprehended,  they  will  feel  as  if  there  were  a  kind 
of  irreverence  in  disturbing  it.  But  if  this  view  be  really  not 
tenable  when  more  closely  examined,  it  is,  after  all,  not  wise 
to  connect  our  feelings  of  religious  reverence  with  it,  so  that 
they  shall  suffer  a  shock  when  we  are  obliged  to  reject  it.  I 
may  add,  that  we  may  entertain  an  undoubting  trust  that  any 
view  of  the  creation  which  is  found  to  be  true,  will  also  be 
found  to  supply  material  for  reverential  contemplation.  I 
.venture  to  hope  that  we  may,  by  further  examination,  be  led 

to  a  reverence  of  a  deeper  and  more  solemn  character  than  a 
mere  wonder  at  the  immensity  of  space  and  number. 

8.  But  whatever  the  result  may  be,  let  us  consider  the  evi- 
dence for  this  view.  It  assumes  that  all  the  Nebulae  are  re 
solvable  into  stars,  and  that  they  appear  as  nebulae  only  because 
they  are  more  distant  than  the  region  in  which  they  can  appear 
as  stars.  Are  there  any  facts,  any  phenomena  in  the  heavens, 
which  may  help  us  to  determine  whether  this  is  a  probable 
opinion  1 


140  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

9.  It  is  most  satisfactory  for  us,  when  we  can,  in  such  in 
quiries,  know  the  thoughts  which  have  suggested  themselves  to 
the  minds  of  those  who  have  examined  the  phenomena  with 
the  most  complete  knowledge,  the  greatest  care,  and  the  best 
advantages  ;  and  have  speculated  upon  these  phenomena  in  a 
way  both  profound  and  unprejudiced.  Some  remarks  of  Sir 
John  Herschel,  recommended  by  these  precious  characters, 
seem  to  me  to  bear  strongly  upon  the  question  which  I  have 
just  had  to  ask  : — Do  all  the  nebulss  owe  their  nebulous  ap- 
pearance to  their  being  too  distant  to  be  seen  as  groups  of  dis- 
tinct stars,  though  they  really  are  such  groups  ? 

10.  Herschel,  in  the  visit  which  he  made  to  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  to  his  father  the  most 
splendid  monument  that  son  ever  erected, — the  completed  sur- 
vey of  the  vault  of  heaven, — had  full  opportunity  of  studying 
a  certain  pair  of  remarkable  bright  spaces  of  the  skies,  filled 
with  a  cloudy  light,  which  lie  near  the  southern  pole ;  and 
which,  having  been  unavoidably  noticed  by  the  first  Antarctic 
voyagers,  are  called  the  Magellanic  Clouds.  When  the  larger 
of  these  two  clouds  is  examined  through  powerful  telescopes, 
it  presents,  we  are  told,  a  constitution  of  uncommon  complex- 
ity :  "  large  patches  and  tracts  of  nebulosity  in  every  stage  of 
resolution,  from  light,  irresolvable  with  eighteen  inches  of  re- 
flecting aperture,  up  to  perfectly  separated  stars  like  the  Milky 
Way,  and  clustering  groups  sufficiently  insulated  and  con- 
densed to  come  under  the  designation  of  irregular,  and  in  some 
cases  pretty  rich  clusters.  But  besides  these,  there  are  also 
nebulae  in  abundance,  both  regular  and  irregular ;  globular 
clusters  in  every  stage  of  condensation,  and  objects  of  a  nebu- 
lous character  quite  pecu-.ar,  and  which  have  no  analogies  in 
any  other  region  of  the  heavens. ""^^     He  goes  on  to  say,  that 

*  Herschel,  OutL  of  Astr.  Art.  893. 


THE     NEBULiE.  141 

these  nebulae  and  clusters  are  far  more  crowded  in  this  space 
than  they  are  in  any  other,  even  the  most  crowded  parts,  of 
the  nebulous  heavens.  This  Nubecula  Major^  as  it  is  termed, 
s  of  a  round  or  oval  form,  and  its  diameter  is  about  six  de- 
grees, so  that  it  is  about  twelve  times  the  apparent  diameter 
of  the  moon.  The  Nubecula  Minor  is  a  smaller  patch  of  the 
same  kind.  If  we  suppose  the  space  occupied  by  the  various 
objects  which  the  nubecula  major  includes,  to  be,  in  a  general 
way,  spherical,  its  nearest  and  most  remote  parts  must  (as 
its  angular  size  proves)  differ  in  their  distance  from  us  by  little 
more  th  m  a  tenth  part  of  our  distance  from  its  centre.  That 
the  two  nubeculaa  are  thus  approximately  spherical  spaces,  is 
in  the  highest  degree  probable ;  not  only  from  the  peculiarity 
of  their  contents,  which  suggests  the  notion  of  a  peculiar  group 
of  objects,  collected  into  a  limited  space  ;  but  from  the  barren- 
ness, as  to  such  objects,  of  the  sky  in  the  neighborhood  of  these 
Magellanic  Clouds.  To  suppose  (the  only  other  possible  sup- 
position) that  they  are  two  columns  of  space,  with  their  ends 
turned  towards  us,  and  their  lengths  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  times  their  breadths,  would  be  too  fantastical  a  proceeding 
to  be  tolerated ;  and  would,  after  all,  not  explain  the  facts 
without  further  altogether  arbitrary  assumptions. 

11.  It  appears,  then,  that,  in  these  groups,  there  are  stars 
of  various  magnitudes,  clusters  of  various  forms,  nebulas  regu- 
lar and  irregular,  nebulous  tracts  and  patches  of  peculiar  char- 
acter ;  and  all  so  disposed,  that  the  most  distant  of  them, 
vhichever  these  may  be,  are  not  m.ore  than  one-tenth  more 
distant  than  the  nearest.  If  the  nearest  star  in  this  space  be 
at  nine  times  the  distance  of  Sirius,  the  farthest  nebula,  con- 
tained in  the  same  space,  will  not  be  at  more  than  ten  times 
the  distance  of  Sirius.  Of  course,  the  doctrine  that  nebulae 
are  seen  as  nebulae,  merely  because  they  are  so  distant,  re- 


142  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

quires  us  to  assume  all  nebulae  to  be  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  times  more  distant  than  the  smallest  stars.  If  stars  of  the 
eighth  magnitude  (which  are  hardly  visible  to  the  naked  eye) 
be  eight  times  as  remote  as  Sirius,  a  nebula  containing  a  thou- 
sand stars,  which  is  invisible  to  the  naked  eye,  must  be  more 
than  eight  thousand  times  as  remote  as  Sirius.  And  thus  if, 
in  the  whole  galaxy,  we  reckon  only  the  stars  as  far  as  the 
eighth  magnitude,  and  suppose  all  the  stars  of  the  galaxy  to 
form  a  nebula,  which  is  visible  to  the  spectators  in  a  distant 
nebula,  only  as  their  nebula  is  visible  to  us  ;  we  must  place 
them  at  eight  thousand  times  two  hundred  thousand  times  the 
distance  of  the  Sun  ;  and,  even  so,  we  are  obviously  vastly  un- 
derstating  the  calculation.  These  are  the  gigantic  estimates 
with  which  some  astronomical  speculators  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  overwhelming  the  minds  of  their  listeners  ;  and  these 
views  have  given  a  kind  of  majesty  to  the  aspect  of  the  neb- 
ulse  ;  and  have  led  some  persons  to  speak  of  the  discovery  of 
every  new  streak  of  nebulous  light  in  the  starry  heavens,  as  a 
discovery  of  new  worlds,  and  still  new  worlds.  But.  the  Ma- 
gellanic Clouds  show  us  very  clearly  that  all  these  calculations 
are  entirely  baseless.  In  those  regions  of  space,  there  coexists, 
in  a  limited  compass,  and  in  indiscriminate  position,  stars,  clus- 
ters of  stars,  nebulae,  regular  and  irregular,  and  nebulous  streaks 
and  patches.  These,  then,  are  different  kinds  of  things  in 
themselves,  not  merely  different  to  us.  There  are  such  things 
as  nebulae  side  by  side  with  stars,  and  with  clusters  of  stars. 
Nebulous  matter  resolvable  occurs  close  to  nebulous  matter 
irresolvable.  The  last  and  widest  step  by  which  the  dimen- 
sions of  the  universe  have  been  expanded  in  the  notions  of 
eager  speculators,  is  checked  by  a  completer  knowledge  and  a 
sager  spirit  of  speculation.  Whatever  inference  we  may  draw 
from   the  resolvability  of  some  of  the  nebulae,  we  may  not 


THE     NEBULA.  143 

draw  this  inference ; — that  they  are  more  distant,  and  contain 
a  larger  array  of  systems  and  of  worlds,  in  proportion  as  they 
are  difficult  to  resolve. 

12.  But  indeed,  if  we  consider  this  process,  of  the  resolution 
of  nebula  into  luminous  points,  on  its  ovai  ground,  without 
looking  to  such  facts  as  I  have  just  adduced,  it  will  be  difficult, 
or  impossible,  to  assign  any  reason  why  it  should  lead  to  such 
inferences  as  have  been  drawn  from  it.  Let  us  look  at  this 
matter  more  clearly.  An  astronomer,  armed  with  a  powerful 
telescope,  resolves  a  nebula,  discerns  that  a  luminous  cloud  is 
comp-'^sed  of  shining  dots  : — but  what  are  these  dots  *?  Into 
what  does  he  resolve  the  nebula  1  Into  Stars,  it  is  commonly 
said.  LH  us  not  wrangle  about  words.  By  all  means  let 
these  dots  be  Stars,  if  we  know  about  what  we  are  speaking : 
if  a  Star  merely  mean  a  luminous  dot  in  the  sky.  But  that 
these  stars  shall  resemble,  in  their  nature,  stars  of  the  first  mag- 
nitude, and  that  such  stars  shall  resemble  our  Sun,  are  surely 
very  bold  structures  of  assumption  to  build  on  such  a  basis 
Some  nebulae  are  resolvable ;  are  resolvable  into  distinct 
points  ;  certainly  a  very  curious,  probably  an  important  dis- 
covery. We  may  hereafter  learn  that  all  nebulae  are  resolv- 
able into  distinct  points  :  that  would  be  a  still  more  curious 
discovery.  But  what  would  it  amount  to  1  What  would  be 
tlie  simple  way  of  expressing  it,  without  hypothesis,  and  with- 
out assumption  1  Plainly  this  :  that  the  substance  of  all  neb- 
ulae is  not  continuous,  but  discrete  ; — separable,  and  separate 
into  distinct  luminous  elements  ; — nebulse  are,  it  would  then 
seem,  as  it  were,  of  a  curdled  or  granulated  texture  ;  they  hav6 
run  into  lumps  of  light,  or  have  been  formed  originally  of  suck 
lumps.  Highly  curious.  But  what  are  these  lumps  1  How 
large  are  they  1  At  what  distances  1  Of  what  structure  ? 
Of  what  use  1     it  would  seem  that  he  must  be  a  bold  man 


144  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

"who  undertakes  to  answer  these  questions.  Certainly  he  must 
appear  to  ordinary  thinkers  to  be  very  bold,  who,  in  reply,  says, 
gravely  and  confidently,  as  if  he  had  unquestionable  authority 
for  his  teaching  : — "  These  lumps,  O  man,  are  Suns  ;  they  are 
distant  from  each  other  as  far  as  the  Dog-star  is  from  us ; 
each  has  its  system  of  Planets,  which  revolve  around  it ;  and 
each  of  these  Planets  is  the  seat  of  an  animal  and  vegetable 
creation.  Among  these  Planets,  some,  we  do  not  yet  know  how 
many,  are  occupied  by  rational  and  responsible  creatures,  like 
Man  ;  and  the  only  matter  which  perplexes  us,  holding  this  be- 
lief on  astronomical  grounds,  is,  that  we  do  not  quite  see  how 
to  put  our  theology  into  its  due  place  and  form  in  our  system." 
13.  In  discussing  such  matters  as  these,  where  our  knowl- 
edge and  our  ignorance  are  so  curiously  blended  together,  and 
where  it  is  so  difficult  to  make  men  feel  that  so  much  igno- 
rance can  lie  so  close  to  so  much  knowledge ; — to  make  them 
believe  that  they  have  been  allowed  to  discover  so  much,  and 
yet  are  not  allowed  to  discover  more  : — we  may  be  permitted 
to  illustrate  our  meaning,  by  supposing  a  case  of  blended 
knowledge  and  ignorance,  of  real  and  imaginary  discovery. 
Suppose  that  there  were  carried  from  a  scientific  to  a  more 
ignorant  nation,  excellent  maps  of  the  Avorld,  finely  engraved  ; 
the  mountain -ranges  shaded  in  the  m.ost  delicate  manner,  and 
the  sheet  crowded  with  information  of  all  kinds,  in  writing 
larg-3,  small,  and  microscopic.  Suppose  also,  that  when  these 
maps  had  been  studied  with  the  naked  eye,  so  as  to  establish 
a  profound  respect  for  the  knowledge  and  skill  of  the  author 
of  them,  some  of  those  who  perused  them  should  be  fur- 
nished with  good  microscopes,  so  as  to  carry  their  examina- 
tion further  than  before.  They  might  then  find  that,  in 
several  parts,  what  before  appeared  to  be  merely  crooked 
lines,  was  really  writing,  stating,  it  may  be,  the  amount  of 


THE     NEBULAE.  145 

population  of  a  province,  or  the  date  of  foundation  of  a  town. 
To  exhaust  all  the  information  thus  contained  on  the  maps, 
might  be  a  work  of  considerable  time  and  labor.     But  sup- 
pose that,  when  this  was  done,  a  body  of  resolute  microscopists 
should  insist  that  the  information  which  the  map  contained 
was  not  exhausted :  that  they  should  continue  peering  perse- 
veringly  at  the  lines  which  formed  the  shading  of  the  moun- 
tains, maintaining  that  these  lines  also  were  writing,  if  only  it 
might  be  deciphered ;  and  should  go  on  increasing,  with  im- 
mense labor  and  ingenuity,  the  powers  of  their  microscopes, 
in  order  to  discover  the  legend  contained  in  these  unmeaning 
lines.     We  should,  perhaps,  have  here  an  image  of  the  em- 
ployment of  these  astronomers,  who  now  go   on  looking  in 
nebulae  for  worlds.     And  we  may  notice  in  passing,  that  seve- 
ral of  the  arguments  which  are  used  by  such  astronomers, 
might  be  used,  and  would  be  used,  by  our  microscopists  : — 
how  improbable  it  was  that  a  person  so  full  of  knowledge,  and 
so  able  to  convey  it,  as  the  author  of  the  maps  was  known  to 
be,  should  not  have  a  design  and  purpose  in  every  line  that  he 
drew :  what  a  waste  of  space  it  would  be  to  leave  any  part  of 
the  sheet  blank  of  information  ;  and  the  like.     To  which  the 
reply  is  to  us  obvious ;  that  the  design  of  shading  the  moun- 
tains was  design  enough ;  and  that  the  information  conveyed 
was  all  that  was  necessary  or  convenient.     Nor  does  this  illus- 
tration at  all  tend  to  show  that  such  astronomical  scrutiny, 
directed  intelligently,  with  a  right  selection  of  the  points  ex- 
amined, may  not  be  highly  interesting  and  important.     If  the 
microscopists  had  examined  the  map  with  a  view  to  determine 
the  best  way  in  which  mountains  can  be  indicated  by  shading, 
they  would  have  employed  themselves  upon  a  question  which 
has  been  the  subject  of  multiplied  and  instructive  discussion 
in  our  own  day. 

7 


146  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

14.  But  to  return  to  the  subject  of  Nebulee,  we  may  further 
say,  with  the  most  complete  confidence,  that  whether  or  not 
nebulous  matter  be  generally  resolvable  into  shining  dots,  it 
cannot  possibly  be  true  that  its  being,  or  not  being  so  resolv- 
able by  our  telescopes,  depends  merely  upon  its  smaller  or 
greater  distance  from  the  observer.  Tor,  in  the  first  place, 
that  there  is  matter,  to  the  best  assisted  eye  not  distinguish- 
able from  nebulous  matter,  which  is  not  so  resolvable,  is 
proved  by  several  facts.  The  tails  of  Comets  often  resemble 
nebulas ;  so  much  so  that  there  are  several  known  nebulae, 
which  are,  by  the  less  experienced  explorers  of  the  sky,  per- 
petually mistaken  for  comets,  till  they  are  proved  not  to  be 
so,  by  their  having  no  cometary  motion.  Such  is  the  nebula 
in  Andromeda,  which  is  visible  to  the  naked  eye.*  But  the 
tails  and  nebulous  appendages  of  comets,  though  they  alter 
their  appearance  very  greatly,  according  to  the  power  of  the 
telescope  with  which  they  are  examined,  have  never  been  re- 
solved into  stars,  or  any  kind  of  dots ;  and  seem,  by  all  in- 
vestigations, to  be  sheets  or  cylinders  or  cones  of  luminous 
vapor,  changing  their  form  as  they  approach  to  or  recede  from 
the  sun,  and  perhaps  by  the  influence  of  other  causes.  Yet 
some  of  them  approach  very  near  the  earth ;  all  of  them 
come  within  the  limits  of  our  system.  Here,  then,  we  have 
(probably,  at  least,)  nebulous  matter,  which  when  brought 
close  to  the  eye,  compared  with  the  stellar  nebulas,  still  ap- 
pears as  nebulous. 

15.  Again,  as  another  phenomenon,  bearing  upon  the  same 
question,  we  have  the  Zodiacal  Light.  This  is  a  faint  cone  of 
lightf  which,  at  certain  seasons,  may  be  seen  extending  from 
the  horizon  obliquely  upwards,  and  following  the  course  of 

*  Herschel.  Outl  of  Asir.  Art.  814,  and  Plate  11,  Fig.  3. 
t  Ibid.  Art.  S\)1. 


THE     NEBULA.  147 

the  ecliptic,  or  rather,  of  the  sun's  equator.  It  appears  to  be 
a  lens-shaped  envelope  of  the  sun,  extending  beyond  the  orbits 
of  Mercury  and  Venus,  and  nearly  attaining  that  of  the  earth ; 
and  in  Sir  John  Herschel's  view,  may  be  regarded  as  placing 
the  sun  in  the  list  of  nebulous  stars.  No  one  has  ever  thought 
that  this  nebulous  appearance  was  resolvable  into  luminous 
points ;  but  if  it  were,  probably  not  even  the  most  sanguine 
of  speculators  on  the  multitude  of  suns  would  call  these  points 
suns. 

16.  But  indeed  the  nebulse  themselves,  and  especially  the 
most  remote  of  the  nebulse,  or  at  least  those  which  most 
especially  require  the  most  powerful  telescopes,  offer  far  more 
decisive  proofs  that  their  resolvability  or  non-resolvability, — 
their  apparent  constitution  as  diffused  and  vaporous  masses, — • 
does  not  depend  upon  their  distance.  A  remarkable  fact  in 
the  irregular,  and  in  some  of  the  regular  nebulae*  is,  that  they 
consist  of  long  patches  and  streaks,  which  stretch  out  in  vari- 
ous directions,  and  of  which  the  formf  and  extent  vary  ac- 
cording to  the  visual  power  which  is  applied  to  them.  Many 
of  the  nebulae  and  especially  of  the  fainter  ones,  entirely 
change  their  form  with  the  optical  power  of  the  instrument  by 
which  they  are  scrutinized ;  so  that,  as  seen  in  the  mightier 
telescopes  of  modern  times,  the  astronomer  scarcely  recog- 
nizes the  figures  in  which  the  earlier  observers  have  recorded 
what  they  saw  in  the  same  place.  Parts  which,  before,  were 
separate,  are  connected  by  thin  bridges  of  light  which  are  now 
detected;  and  where  the  nebulous  space  appeared  to  be 
bounded,  it  sends  off  long  tails  of  faint  light  into  the  surround- 
ing space.  Now,  no  one  can  suppose  that  these  newly-seen 
portions  of  the  nebula  are  immensely  further  off  than  tlie  other 
parts.  However  little  we  know  of  the  nature  of  the  object, 
*  Hersch.  874.  f  Ibid.  881—8. 


148  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

we  must  suppose  it  to  be  one  connected  object,  with  all  its 
parts,  as  to  sense,  at  the  same  distance  from  us.  Whether 
therefore  it  be  resolvable  or  no,  there  nnust  be  some  other  rea- 
son, besides  the  diiference  of  distance,  why  the  brighter  parts 
were  seen,  while  the  fainter  parts  were  not.  The  obvious 
reason  is,  that  the  latter  were  not  seen  because  they  were  thin 
films  which  required  more  light  to  see  them.  We  are  led, 
irresistibly  as  it  seems,  to  regard  the  whole  mass  of  such  a 
nebula,  as  an  aggregation  of  vaporous  rolls  and  streaks,  as- 
suming such  forms  as  thin  volumes  of  smoke  or  vapor  often 
assume  in  our  atmosphere,  and  assuming,  like  them,  dif- 
ferent shapes  according  to  the  quantity  of  light  which  comes 
to  us  from  them.  If,  as  soon  as  one  of  these  new  filaments  or 
webs  of  a  nebula  comes  into  view,  we  should  say.  Here  we 
have  a  new  array  of  suns  and  of  worlds,  we  should  judge  as 
fantastically,  as  any  one  who  should  com  binethe  like  imag- 
inations with  the  varying  cloud-work  of  a  summer-sky.  To 
suppose  that  all  the  varied  streaks  by  which  the  patch  of 
nebulous  light  shades  off  into  the  surrounding  darkness,  and 
which  change  their  form  and  extent  with  every  additional 
polish  which  we  can  give  to  a  reflecting  or  refracting  sur- 
face, disclose,  with  every  new  streak,  new  worlds,  is  a 
wanton  indulgence  of  fancy,  to  which  astronomy  gives  us  no 
countenance.* 

17.  Undoubtedly  all  true  astronomers,  taught  caution  and 
temperance  of  thought  by  the  discipline  of  their  magnificent 
science,  abstain  from  founding  such  assumptions  upon  their 

*  At  the  recent  meeting  of  the  British  Association  (Sept.  1853), 
drawings  wf;re  exhibited  of  the  same  nebulae,  as  seen  through  Lord 
Ilosse's  large  telescope,  and  through  a  telescope  of  three  feet  aperture. 
With  the  smaller  telescopic  power,  all  the  characteristic  features  were 
lost.  The  spiral  structure  (see  next  Article  but  one)  has  been  almost 
entirely  brc»U!j,lit  tu  liglit  by  the  large  telescope. 


THE     NEBULA.  149 

discoveries.  They  know  how  necessary  it  is  to  be  upon  their 
guard  against  the  tricks  which  fancy  plays  v/ith  the  senses ; 
and  if  they  see  appearances  of  which  they  cannot  interpret  the 
meaning,  they  are  content  that  they  should  have  no  meaning 
for  them,  till  the  due  explanation  comes.  We  have  innumer- 
able examples  of  this  wise  and  cautious  temper,  in  all  periods 
of  astronomy.  One  has  occurred  lately.  Several  careful 
astronomers,  observing  the  stars  by  day,  had  been  surprised 
to  see  globes  of  light  glide  across  the  field  of  view  of  their 
telescopes,  often  in  rapid  succession  and  in  great  numbers. 
They  did  not,  as  may  be  supposed,  rush  to  the  assumption 
that  these  globes  were  celestial  bodies  of  a  new  kind,  before 
unseen  ;  and  that  from  the  peculiarity  of  their  appearance  and 
movement,  they  were  probably  inhabited  by  beings  of  a  pe- 
culiar kind.  They  proceeded  very  differently  ;  they  altered 
the  focus  of  their  telescopes,  looked  with  other  glasses,  made 
various  changes  and  trials,  and  finally  discovered  that  these 
globes  of  light  were  the  winged  seeds  of  certain  plants  which 
were  wafted  through  the  air ;  and  which,  illuminated  by  the 
sun,  were  made  globular  by  being  at  distances  unsuited  to  the 
focus  of  the  telescope.'^' 

18.  But  perhaps  something  more  may  be  founded  on  the 
ramified  and  straggling  form  which  belongs  to  many  of  the 
nebulae.  Under  the  powers  of  Lord  Rosse's  telescope,  a  con- 
siderable number  of  them  assume  a  shape  consisting  of  several 
spiral  films  diverging  from  one  centre,  and  growing  broader 
and  fainter  as  they  diverge,  so  as  to  resemble  a  curled  feather, 
or  whirlpool  of   light. f       This  form,  though    generally  de- 

*  See  monthly  Notices  of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society,  Dec.  13, 
1850. 

f  The  frontispiece  to  this  volume  represents  two  of  these  Spiral 
IM eh  alas ;  those  denominated  51  Messier,  and  99  Messier,  as  given  by 


150  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

formed  by  irregularities,  more  or  less,  is  traceable  in  so  many 
of  the  nebulae,  that  we  cannot  easily  divest  ourselves  of  the 
persuasion  that  there  is  some  general  reason  for  such  a  form ; 
— that  something,  in  the  mechanical  causes  which  have  pro- 
duced the  nebulae,  has  tended  to  give  them  this  shape.  Now, 
when  this  thought  has  occurred  to  us,  since  mathematicians 
have  written  a  great  deal  concerning  the  mechanics  of  the 
universe,  it  is  natural  to  ask,  whether  any  of  the  problems 
which  they  have  solved  give  a  result  like  that  thus  presented 
to  our  eyes.  Do  such  spirals  as  we  here  see,  occur  in  any  of 
the  diagrams  which  illustrate  the  possible  motions  of  celestial 
bodies  1  And  to  this,  a  person  acquainted  with  mathematical 
literature  might  reply,  that  in  the  second  Book  of  Newton's 
Principia,  in  the  part  which  has  especial  reference  to  the 
Vortices  of  Descartes,  such  spirals  appear  upon  the  page. 
They  represent  the  path  which  a  body  would  describe  if, 
acted  upon  by  a  central  force,  it  had  to  move  in  a  medium  of 
which  the  resistance  was  considerable ; — considerable,  that  is, 
in  comparison  with  the  other  forces  which  act ;  as  for  example, 
the  forces  which  deflect  the  motion  from  a  straight  line.  In- 
deed, that  in  such  a  case  a  body  would  describe  a  spiral,  of 
which  the  general  form  would  be  more  or  less  oval,  is  evi- 
dent on  a  little  consideration.  And  in  this  way,  for  instance, 
Encke's  comet,  which,  if  the  resistance  to  its  motion  were  in- 
sensible, would  go  on  describing  an  ellipse  about  the  sun,  al- 
ways returning  upon  the  same  path  after  every  revolution  ; 
does  really  describe  a  path  which,  at  each  revolution,  falls  a 
little  within  the  preceding  revolution,  and  thus  gradually  con- 
verges to  the  centre.  And  if  we  suppose  the  comet  to  con- 
sist of  a  luminous  mass,  or  a  string  of  masses,  which  should 

"Lord  Rosse  in  the  Phil.  Trans,  for  ]850.  The  former  of  these  two  haa 
a  lateral  focus,  besides  the  principal  focus  or  pole. 


THE     NEBULA.  151 

occupy  a  considerable  arc  of  such  an  orbit,  the  orbit  would  be 
marked  by  a  track  of  light,  as  an  oval  spiral.  Or  if  such  a 
comet  were  to  separate  into  two  portions,  as  we  have,  with 
our  own  eyes,  recently  seen  Biela's  comet  do  ;  or  into  a 
greater  number;  then  these  portions  would  be  distributed 
along  such  a  spiral.  And  if  we  suppose  a  large  mass  of  cometic 
matter  thus  to  move  in  a  highly  resisting  medium,  and  to  con- 
sist of  patches  of  different  densities,  then  some  would  move 
faster  and  some  more  slowly ;  but  all,  in  spirals  such  as  have 
been  spoken  of;  and  the  general  aspect  produced  would  be, 
that  of  the  spiral  nebulae  which  I  have  endeavored  to  describe. 
The  luminous  matter  would  be  more  diffused  in  the  outer  and 
miore  condensed  in  the  central  parts,  because  to  the  centre  of 
attraction  all  the  spirals  converge. 

19.  This  would  be  so,  we  say,  if  the  luminous  matter 
moved  in  a  greatly  resisting  medium.  But  what  is  the  meas- 
ure of  great  resistance  %  It  is,  as  we  have  already  said,  that 
the  resistance  which  opposes  the  motion  shall  bear  a  consider- 
able proportion  to  the  force  which  deflects  the  motion.  But 
what  is  that  force  *?  Upon  the  theory  of  the  universal  gravi- 
tation of  matter,  on  which  theory  we  here  proceed,  the  force 
which  deflects  the  motions  of  the  parts  of  each  system  into 
curves,  is  the  m.utual  attraction  of  the  parts  of  the  system ; 
leaving  out  of  the  account  the  action  of  other  systems,  as  com.- 
paratively  insignificent  and  insensible.  The  condition,  then, 
for  the  production  of  such  spiral  figures  as  I  have  spoken  of, 
amounts  really  to  this ;  that  the  mutual  attraction  of  the  parts 
of  the  luminous  matter  is  slight ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  the 
matter  itself  is  very  thin  and  rare.  In  that  case,  indeed,  we 
can  easily  see  that  such  a  result  would  follow.  A  cloud  of 
dust,  or  of  smoke,  which  was  thin  and  light,  would  make  but 
a  little  way  through  the  air,  and  would  soon  M  downwards ; 


152  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

while  a  metal  bullet  shot  horizontally  with  the  same  velocity, 
might  fly  for  m.iles.  Just  so,  a  loose  and  vaporous  mass  of 
cometic  matter  would  be  pulled  rapidly  inwards  by  the  at- 
traction to  the  centre ;  and  supposing  it  also  drawn  into  a 
long  train,  by  the  different  density  of  its  different  parts,  it 
would  trace,  in  lines  of  light,  a  circular  or  elliptical  spiral  con- 
verging to  the  centre  of  attraction,  and  resembling  one  of  the 
branches  of  the  spiral  nebulee.  And  if  several  such  cometic 
masses  thus  travelled  towards  the  centre,  they  would  exhibit 
the  wheel-like  figure  with  bent  spokes,  which  is  seen  in  the 
spiral  nebula.  And  such  a  figure  would  all  the  more  resem- 
ble some  of  those  nebulae,  as  seen  through  Lord  Rosse's  tele- 
scope, if  the  spirals  were  accompanied  by  exterior  branches  of 
thinner  and  fainter  light,  which  nebulous  matter  of  smaller 
density  might  naturally  form.  Perhaps  too,  such  matter, 
when  thin,  may  be  supposed  to  cool  down  more  rapidly  from 
its  state  of  incandescence ;  and  thus  to  become  less  luminous. 
If  this  were  so,  a  great  optical  power  would  of  course  be  re- 
quired, to  make  the  diverging  branches  visible  at  all. 

20.  There  is  one  additional  remark,  which  we  may  make,  as 
to  the  resemblance  of  cometary*  and  nebular  matter.  That 
cometary  matter  is  of  very  small  density,  we  have  many  rea- 
sons to  believe  : — ^its  transparency,  which  allows  us  to  see 
stars  through  it  undimmed  ; — the  absence  of  any  mechanical 
effect,  weight,  inertia,  impulse,  or  attraction,  in  the  nearest 

*  I  am  aware  that  some  astronomers  do  not  consider  it  as  proved 
that  cometary  matter  is  entirely  self-luminous.  Arago  found  that  the 
light  of  a  Comet  contained  a  portion  of  polarized  light,  thus  proving 
that  it  had  been  reflected  (Co677io.9,  i.  p.  Ill,  and  iii.  p.  566).  But  I 
think  the  opinion  that  the  greater  part  of  the  light  is  self-luminous, 
like  the  nebulae,  generally  prevails.  Any  other  supposition  is  scarcely 
consistent  with  the  rapid  changes  of  brightness  which  occur  in  a  comet 
during  its  motion  to  and  from  the  Sun. 


THE     NEBULA.  153 

appulses  of  comets  to  planets  and  satellites : — and  the  fact  that, 
in  the  recent  remarkable  event  in  the  cometic  history,  the 
separation  of  Biela's  comet  into  two,  the  two  parts  did  not  ap- 
pear to  exert  any  perceptible  attraction  on  each  other,  any 
more  than  two  volumes  of  dust  or  of  smoke  would  do  on 
earth.  Luminous  cometary  matter,  then,  is  very  light,  that  is, 
has  very  little  weight  or  inertia.  And  luminous  nebulous 
matter  is  also  very  light  in  this  sense  :  if  our  account  of  the 
cause  of  spiral  nebulae  has  in  it  any  truth.  But  yet,  if  we  sup- 
pose the  nebulee  to  be  governed  by  the  law  of  universal  gravi- 
tation, the  attractive  force  of  the  luminous  matter  upon  itself, 
must  be  sufficient  to  bend  the  spirals  into  their  forms.  How 
are  we  to  reconcile  this ;  that  the  matter  is  so  loose  that  it 
falls  to  the  centre  in  rapid  spirals,  and  yet  that  it  attracts  so 
fetrongly  that  there  is  a  centre,  and  an  energetic  central  force 
to  curve  the  spirals  thither  1  To  this,  the  reply  which  we 
must  make  is,  that  the  size  of  the  nebular  space  is  such,  that 
though  its  rarity  is  extreme,  its  whole  mass  is  considerable. 
One  part  does  not  perceptibly  attract  another,  but  the  whole 
does  perceptibly  attract  every  part.  This  indeed  need  the  less 
surprise  us,  since  it  is  exactly  the  case  with  our  earth.  One 
stone  does  not  visibly  attract  another.  It  is  much  indeed  for 
man,  if  he  can  make  perceptible  the  attraction  of  a  mountain 
upon  a  plumb-line ;  or  of  a  stratum  of  rock  a  thousand  feet 
thick  upon  the  going  of  a  pendulum ;  or  of  large  masses  of 
metal  upon  a  delicate  balance.  By  such  experiments  men  of 
science  have  endeavored  to  measure  that  minute  thing,  the  at- 
traction of  one  portion  of  terrestrial  matter  upon  another ; 
and  this,  to  weigh  the  whole  mass  of  the  earth.  And  equally 
great,  at  least,  may  be  the  disproportion  between  the  mutual 
attraction  of  two  parts  of  a  nebulous  system,  and  the  total  cen 


154  THE     PLUKALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

tral  attraction ;  and  thus,  though  the  former  be  insensible,  the 
latter  may  be  important. 

21.  It  has  been  shown  by  Newton,  that  if  any  mass  of  mat- 
ter be  distributed  in  a  uniform  sphere,  or  in  uniform  concentric 
spherical  shells,  the  total  attraction  on  a  point  without  the 
sphere,  will  be  the  same  as  if  the  whole  mass  were  collected 
in  that  single  point,  the  centre.     Now,  proceeding  upon  the 
supposition  of  such  a  distribution  of  the  matter  in  a  nebula, 
(which  is  a  reasonable  average  supposition,)  we  may  say,  that 
if  our  sun  were  expanded  into  a  nebula  reaching  to  the  ex- 
treme bounds  of  the  known  solar  system,  namely,  to  the 
newly-discovered  planet  Neptune,  or  even  hundreds  of  times 
further ;  the  attraction  on  an  external  point  would  remain  the 
same  as  it  is,  while  the  attraction  on  points  within  the  sphere 
of  diifusion  would  be  less  than  it  is  ;  according  to  some  law, 
depending  upon  the  degree  of  condensation  of  the  nebular 
matter  towards  the  centre  ;  but  still,  in  the  outer  regions  of 
the  nebula,  not  differing  much  from  the  present  solar  attrac- 
tion.    If  we  could  discover  a  mass  of  luminous  matter,  de- 
scending in  a  spiral  course  towards  the  centre  of  such  a  nebula, 
that  is,  towards  the  sun,  we  should  have  a  sort  of  element  of 
the  spiral  nebulae  which  have  now  attracted  so  much  of  the 
attention  of  astronomers.     But,  by  an  extraordinary  coinci- 
dence, recent  discoveries  have  presented  to  us  such  an  element. 
Encke's  comet,  of  which  we  have  just  spoken,  appears  to  be 
describing  such  a  spiral  curve  towards  the  sun.     It  is  found 
that  its  period  is,  at  every  revolution,  shorter  and  shorter  ;  the 
amplitude  of  its  sweep,  at  every  return  within  the  limits  of 
our  observation,   narrower  and   narrower ;    so    that    in    the 
course  of  revolutions  and  ages,  however  numerous,  still,  not 
such  as  to  shake  the  evidence  of  the  fact,  it  will  fall  into  the 
sun. 


THE     NEBULA.  155 

22.  Here  then  we  are  irresistibly  driven  to  calculate  what 
degree  of  resemblance  there  is,  between  the  comet  of  Encke, 
and  the  luminous  elements  of  the  spiral  nebulce,  which  have 
recently  been  found  to  exist  in  other  regions  of  the  universe. 
Can  we  compare  its  density  with  theirs  ?  Can  we  learn 
whether  the  luminous  matter  in  such  nebulse  is  m.ore  diffused 
or  less  diffused,  than  that  of  the  comet  of  Encke  1  Can  we 
compare  the  mechanical  power  of  getting  through  space,  as 
we  may  call  it,  that  is,  the  ratio  of  the  inertia  to  the  resist- 
ance, in  the  one  case,  and  in  the  other  1  If  we  can,  the  com- 
parison cannot  fail,  it  would  seem,  to  be  very  curious  and  in- 
structive. In  this  comparison,  as  in  most  others  to  which  cos- 
mical  relations  conduct  us,  we  must  expect  that  the  numbers 
to  which  we  are  led,  will  be  of  very  considerable  amount.  It  is 
not  equality  in  the  density  of  the  two  luminous  masses  which 
we  are  to  expect  to  find  ;  if  we  can  mark  their  proportions  by 
thousands  of  times,  we  shall  have  made  no  small  progress  in 
such  speculations. 

23.  The  comet  of  Encke  describes  a  spiral,  gradually  con- 
verging to  the  sun ;  but  at  what  rate  converging  1  In  how 
many  revolutions  will  it  reach  the  sun  ?  Of  how  many  folds 
will  its  spire  consist,  before  it  attains  the  end  of  its  course  ? 
The  answer  is  : — Of  very  many.  The  retardation  of  Encke's 
Comet  is  very  small :  so  small,  that  it  has  tasked  the  highest 
powers  of  modern  calculation  to  detect  it.  Still,  however,  it 
is  there  :  detected,  and  generally  acknowledged,  and  confirmed 
by  every  revolution  of  the  comet,  which  brings  it  under  our 
notice;  that  is,  commonly,  about  every  three  years.  And 
having  this  fact,  we  must  make  what  we  can  of  it,  in  reasoning 
on  the  condition  of  the  universe.  No  accuracy  of  calculation 
is  necessary  for  our  purpose :  it  is  enough,  if  we  bring  into 


156  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

view  the  kind  of  scale  of  numbers  to  which  calculation  would 
lead  us. 

24.  Encke's  comet  revolves  round  the  sun  in  1,211  days. 
The  period  diminishes  at  present,  by  about  one-ninth  of  a  day 
every  revolution.  This  amount  of  diminution  will  change,  as 
the  orbit  narrows  ;  but  for  our  purpose,  it  will  be  enough  to 
consider  it  unchangeable.  The  orbit  therefore  will  cease  to  ex- 
ist m  a  number  of  periods  expressed  by  9  times  1,211 ;  that  is, 
in  something  more  that  10,000  revolutions;  and  of  course 
sooner  than  this,  in  consequence  of  its  coming  in  contact  with 
the  body  of  the  sun.  In  30,000  years  then,  it  may  be,  this 
comet  will  complete  its  spiral,  and  be  absorbed  by  the  central 
mass.  This  long  time,  this  long  series  of  ten  thousand  revo- 
lutions, are  long,  because  the  resistance  is  so  small,  compared 
with  the  inertia  of  the  moving  mass.  However  thin,  and  rare, 
and  unsubstantial  the  comet  may  be,  the  medium  which  resists 
it  is  much  more  so. 

25.  But  this  spiral,  converging  to  its  pole  so  slowly  that  it 
reaches  it  only  after  10,000  circuits,  is  very  different  indeed 
from  the  spirals  which  we  see  in  the  nebulas  of  which  we  have 
spoken.  In  the  most  conspicuous  of  those,  there  are  only  at 
m.ost  three  or  four  circular  or  oval  sweeps,  in  each  spiral,  or 
even  the  spiral  reaches  the  centre  before  it  has  completed  a 
single  revolution  round  it.  Now,  what  are  we  to  infer  from 
this  1  How  is  it,  that  the  comet  has  a  spiral  of  so  many  rev- 
olutions, and  the  nebuloe  of  so  few "?  What  difference  of  the 
mechanical  conditions  is  indicated  by  this  striking  difference  ot 
form  ?  Why,  while  the  Comet  thus  lingers  longer  in  the  outer 
space,  and  approaches  the  sun  by  almost  imperceptible  degrees, 
does  the  Nebular  Element  rush,  as  it  were,  headlong  to  its  cen- 
tre, and  show  itself  unable  to  circulate  even  for  a  few  revolutions  ? 

26.  Regarding  the  question  as  a  mechanical  problem,  the 


THE     NEBULA.  157 

answer  must  be  this  : — It  is  so,  because  the  nebula  is  so  much 
more  rare  than  the  matter  of  th«  comet,  or  the  resisting  me- 
dium so  much  more  dense ;  or  combining  the  two  suppo- 
sitions, because  in  the  case  of  the  comet,  the  luminous  matter 
has  much  more  inertia,  more  mechanical  reality  and  substance, 
than  the  medium  through  which  it  moves ;  but  in  the  nebula 
very  little  more. 

27.  The  numbers  of  revolutions  of  the  spiral,  in  the  two 
cases,  may  not  exactly  represent  the  difference  of  the  propor- 
tions ;  but,  as  I  have  said,  they  may  serve  to  show  the  scale  of 
them ;  and  thus  we  may  say,  that  if  Encke's  comet,  approach- 
ing the  centre  by  10,000  revolutions,  is  100,000  times  as  dense 
as  the  surrounding  medium,  the  elements  of  the  nebula,  which 
reach  the  centre  in  a  single  revolution,  are  only  ten  times  as 
dense  as  the  medium  throuj];h  which  they  have  to  move.* 

28.  Nor  does  this  result  (that  the  bright  element  of  the  neb- 
ulse  is  so  few  timesdenser  than  the  medium  in  which  it  moves) 
offer  anything  which  need  surprise  us  :  for,  in  truth,  in  a  dif- 
fused nebula,  since  we  suppose  that  its  parts  have  mechanical 
properties,  the  nebula  itself  is  a  resisting  medijim.  The  rarer 
parts,  which  may  very  naturally  have  cooled  down  in  conse- 
quence of  their  rarity,  and  so,  become  non-luminous,  will  re- 
sist the  motions  of  the  more  dense  and  still-luminous  portions. 
If  we  recur  to  the  supposition,  which  we  lately  made,  that  the 
Sun  were  expanded  into  a  nebulous  sphere,  reaching  the  orbit 
of  Neptune,  the  diffused  matter  would  offer  a  far  greater  re- 
sistance to  the  motions  of  comets  than  they  now  experience. 
In  that  case,  Encke's  comet  might  be  brought  to  the  centre  af- 

*  We  assume  here  that  the  number  of  revolutions  to  the  centre  is 
greater  in  proportion  as  the  relative  density  of  the  resisting  medium 
is  less ;  which  is  by  no  means  mechanically  true ;  but  the  calculation 
may  serve,  as  we  have  said,  to  show  the  scale  of  the  numbers  involved. 


158  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

ter  a  few  revolutions  ;  and  if,  while  it  were  thus  descending,  it 
vrere  to  be  drawn  out  into  a  string  of  luminous  masses,  as 
Biela's  comet  has  begun  to  be,  these  comets,  and  any  others, 
would  form  separate  luminous  spiral  tracks  in  the  solar  sys- 
tem ;  and  would  convert  it  into  a  spiral  nebula  of  many 
branches,  like  those  which  are  now  the  most  recent  objects  of 
astronomical  wonder. 

29.  It  seems  allowable  to  regard  it  as  one  of  those  coinci- 
dences, in  the  epochs  of  related  yet  seeming  unconnected  dis- 
coveries, which  have  so  often  occurred  in  the  history  of  science ; 
that  we  should,  nearly  at  the  same  time,  have  had  brought  to 
our  notice,  the  prevalence  of  spiral  nebulae,  and  the  circum- 
stances, in  Biela's  and  in  Encke's  comets,  which  seem  to  ex- 
plain them :  the  one  by  showing  the  origin  of  luminous  broken 
lines,  one  part  drifting  on  faster  than  another,  according  to  its 
different  density,  as  is  usual  in  incoherent  masses  ;*  and  the 
other  by  showing  the  origin  of  the  spiral  form  of  those  lines, 
arising  from  the  motion  being  in  a  resisting  medium. 

30.  But  though  I  have  made  suppositions  by  which  our  Solar 
System  might  become  a  spiral  nebula,  undoubtedly  it  is  at 
present  something  very  different ;  and  the  leading  points  of 
difference  are  very  important  for  us  to  consider.  And  the 
main  point  is,  that  which  has  already  been  cursorily  noticed  : 
that  instead  of  consisting  of  matter  all  nearly  of  the  same 
density,  and  a  great  deal  of  it  luminous,  our  Solar  System  con- 
sists of  kinds  of  matter  immensely  different  in  density,  and  of 
large  and  regular  portions  which  are  not  luminous.  Instead 
of  a  diffused  nebula  with  vaporous  comets  trailing  spiral  tracks 

*  Humboldt,  wlioni  nothing  relative  to  the  history  of  science  es- 
capes, quotes  from  Seneca  a  passage  in  which  mention  is  made  of  a 
Comet  which  divided  into  two  parts  ;  and  from  the  Chinese  Annals, 
a  notice  of  three  "  coupled  Comets,"  which  in  the  year  896  appeared, 
and  described  their  paths  together.     Cosmos,  m.  p.  5*70,  and  the  notes. 


THE     NEBULA.  159 

through  a  medium  little  rarer  than  themselves ;  we  have  a 
central  sun,  and  the  dark  globes  of  the  solid  planets  rolling 
round  him,  in  a  medium  so  rare,  that  in  thousands  of  revolu- 
tions not  a  vestige  of  retardation  can  be  discovered  by  the 
most  subtle  and  persevering  researches  of  astronomers.  In 
the  solar  system,  the  luminous  matter  is  collected  into  the  body 
of  the  sun  ;  the  non-luminous  matter,  into  the  planets.  And 
the  comets  and  the  resisting  medium,  which  offer  a  small  ex- 
ception to  this  account,  bear  a  proportion  to  the  rest  which  the 
power  of  numbers  scarce  suffices  to  express. 

31.  Thus  with  regard  to  the  density  of  matter  in  the  solar 
system  ;  we  have  supposed,  as  a  mode  of  expression,  that  the 
density  of  a  comet,  Encke's  comet  for  instance,  is  100,000 
times  that  of  the  resisting  medium.  Probably  this  is  greatly 
understated ;  and  probably  also  we  greatly  understate  the 
matter,  when  we  suppose  that  the  tail  of  a  comet  is  100,000 
times  rarer  than  the  matter  of  the  sun.*  And  thus  the  re- 
sisting medium  would  be,  at  a  very  low  calculation,  10,000 
millions  of  times  more  rare  than  the  substance  of  the  sun. 

32.  And  thus  we  are  not,  I  think,  going  too  far,  when  we 
say,  that  our  Solar  System,  compared  with  spiral  nebulous 
systems,  is  a  system  completed  and  finished,  while  they  are 
mere  confused,  indiscriminate,  incoherent  masses.  In  the  Neb- 
ulae, we  have  loose  matter  of  a  thin  and  vaporous  constitution, 
differing  as  more  or  less  rare,  more  or  less  luminous,  in  a 
small  degree ;  diffused  over  enormous  spaces,  in  straggling  and 
irregular  forms ;  moving  in  devious  and  brief  curves,  with  no 
vestige  of  order  or  system,  or  even  of  separation  of  different 

*  Laplace  has  proved  that  the  masses  of  comets  are  very  small.  He 
reckons  their  mean  mass  as  very  much  less  than  1-lOOOOOth  of  the 
Earth's  mass.  And  hence,  considering  their  great  size,  we  see  how  rare 
they  must  be.     See  Expos,  du  S^^si.  du  Monde. 


IGO  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

kinds  of  bodies.  In  the  Solar  System,  we  have  the  -luminous 
separated  from  the  non-luminous,  the  hot  from  the  cold,  the 
dense  from  the  rare ;  and  all,  luminous  and  non-luminous, 
formed  into  globes,  impressed  with  regular  and  orderly  mo- 
tions, which  continue  the  same  for  innumerable  revolutions  and 
cycles.*  The  spiral  nebulae,  compared  with  the  solar  system, 
cannot  be  considered  as  other  than  a  kind  of  chaos ;  and  not 
3ven  a  chaos,  in  the  sense  of  a  state  preceding  an  orderly  and 
stable  system  ;  for  there  is  no  indication,  in  those  objects,  of 
any  tendency  towards  such  a  system.  If  we  were  to  say  that 
they  appear  mere  shapeless  masses,  flung  off  in  the  work  of 
creating  solar  systems,  we  might  perhaps  disturb  those  who  are 
resolved  to  find  everywhere  worlds  like  ours ;  but  it  seems 
difficult  to  suggest  any  other  reason  for  not  saying  so. 

33.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  other  very  irregular  neb- 
ulae, which  spread  out  patches  and  paths  of  various  degrees  of 
brightness ;  and  shoot  out,  into  surrounding  space,  faint 
branches  which  are  of  different  form  and  extent,  according  to 
the  optical  power  with  which  they  are  seen.  These  irregular 
forms  are  incapable  of  being  permanent  according  to  the  laws 
of  mechanics.  They  are  not  figures  of  equilibrium  ;  and, 
therefore,  must  change  by  the  attraction  of  the  matter  upon 
itself.  But  if  the  tenuity  of  the  matter  is  extreme,  and  the 
resistance  of  the  medium  in  which  it  floats  considerable,  this 
tendency  to  change  and  to  condensation  may  be  almost  nulli- 
fied ;  and  the  bright  specks  may  long  keep  their  straggling 
forms,  as  the  most  fantastically  shaped  clouds  of  a  summer-sky 
often  do.  It  is  true,  it  may  be  said  that  the  reason  why  we 
see  no  change  in  the  form  of  such  nebulas,  is  that  our  obser- 

*  Humboldt  repeatedly  expresses  his  conviction  that  our  Solar  Sys- 
tem contains  a  greater  variety  of  forms  than  other  systems.  {Cosjnos, 
ra.  373  and  587.) 


THE    NEBULA.  161 

vations  have  not  endured  long  enough  ;  all  visible  changes  in 
the  stars  requiring  an  immense  time,  according  to  the  gigantic 
scale  of  celestial  mechanism.  But  even  this  hypothesis  (it  is 
no  more)  tends  to  establish  the  extreme  tenuity  of  the  neb- 
olse ;  for  more  solid  systems,  like  our  solar  system,  require, 
for  the  preservation  of  their  form,  motions  which  are  percept- 
ible, and  indeed  conspicuous,  in  the  course  of  a  month  ;  namely, 
the  motions  of  the  planets.  All,  therefore,  concurs  to  prove 
the  extreme  tenuity  of  the  substance  of  irregular  nebulse. 

34.  Nebulae  which  assume  a  regular,  for  instance,  a  circular 
or  oval  shape,  with  whatever  variation  of  luminous  density 
from  the  inner  to  the  outer  parts,  may  have  a  form  of  equili- 
brium, if  their  parts  have  a  proper  gyratory  motion.  Still,  we 
see  no  reason  for  supposing  that  these  differ  so  much  from 
irregular  nebulse,  as  to  be  denser  bodies,  kept  in  their  forms 
by  rapid  motions.  We  are  rather  led  to  believe  that,  though 
perhaps  denser  than  the  spiral  nebula,  they  are  still  of  ex- 
tremely thin  and  vaporous  character.  It  would  seem  very  un- 
likely that  these  vast  clouds  of  luminous  vapor  should  be  as 
dense  as  the  tail  of  a  comet ;  since  a  portion  of  luminous  mat- 
ter so  small  as  such  a  tail  is,  must  have  cooled  down  from  its 
most  luminous  condition  ;  and  must  require  to  be  more  dense 
than  nebular  matter  in  order  to  be  visible  at  all  by  its  own 
light. 

35.  Thus  we  appear  to  have  good  reason  to  believe  that 
nebulse  are  vast  masses  of  incoherent  or  gaseous  matter,  of 
immense  tenuity,  diffused  in  forms  more  or  less  irregular,  but 
all  of  them  destitute  of  any  regular  system  of  solid  moving 
bodies.  We  seem,  therefore,  to  have  made  it  certain  that 
these  celestial  objects  at  least  are  not  inhabited.  No  specula- 
tors have  been  bold  enough  to  place  inhabitants  in  a  comet ; 
except,  indeed,  some  persons  who  have  imagined  that  such  a 


162  THE    PLURALITY    OF    WORLDS. 

habitation,  carrying  its  inmates  alternately  into  the  close 
vicinity  of  the  sun's  surface,  and  far  beyond  the  orbit  of 
Uranus,  and  thus  exposing  them  to  the  fierce  extremes  of  heat 
and  cold,  might  be  the  seat  of  penal  inflictions  on  those  who 
had  deserved  punishment  by  acts  done  in  their  life  on  one  of 
the  planets.  But  even  to  give  coherence  to  this  wild  imagina- 
tion, we  must  further  suppose  that  the  tenants  of  such  prison- 
houses,  though  still  sensible  to  human  suffering  from  extreme 
heat  and  cold,  have  bodies  of  the  same  vaporous  and  unsub- 
stantial character  as  the  vehicle  in  which  they  are  thus  carried 
about  the  system  ;  for  no  frame  of  solid  structure  could  be 
sustained  by  the  incoherent  and  varying  volume  of  a  comet. 
And  probably,  to  people  the  nebulae  with  such  thin  and  fiery 
forms,  is  a  mode  of  providing  them  with  population,  that  the 
most  ardent  advocates  of  the  plurality  of  worlds  are  not  pre- 
pared to  adopt. 

36.  So  far  then  as  the  Nebulae  are  concerned,  the  improb- 
ability of  their  being  inhabited,  appears  to  mount  to  the  high- 
est point  that  can  be  conceived.  We  may,  by  the  indulgence 
of  fancy,  people  the  summer-clouds,  or  the  beams  of  the  aurora 
borealis,  with  living  beings,  of  the  same  kind  of  substance  as 
those  bright  appearances  themselves ;  and  in  doing  so,  we 
are  not  making  any  bolder  assumption  than  we  are,  when  we 
stock  the  Nebulae  with  inhabitants,  and  call  them  in  that  sense, 
"  distant  worlds." 


CHAPTER  YIII. 

THE  FIXED   STAES. 

1.  We  appear,  in  the  last  chapter,  to  have  cleared  away 
the  supposed  inhabitants  of  the  outskirts  of  creation,  so  far 
as  the  Nebulee  are  the  outskirts  of  creation.  We  must  now 
approach  a  little  nearer,  in  appearance  at  least,  to  our  own 
system.  We  must  consider  the  Fixed  Stars ;  and  examine 
any  evidence  which  we  may  be  able  to  discover,  as  to  the 
probability  of  their  containing,  in  themselves  or  in  accom- 
panying bodies,  as  planets,  inhabitants  of  any  kind.  Any  spe- 
cial evidence  which  we  can  discern  on  this  subject,  either  way, 
is  indeed  slight.  On  the  one  side  we  have  the  asserted  anal- 
ogy of  the  parts  of  the  universe ;  of  which  point  we  have 
spoken,  and  may  have  more  to  say  hereafter.  Each  Fixed 
Star  is  conceived  to  be  of  the  nature  of  our  Sun ;  and  there- 
fore, like  him,  the  centre  of  a  planetary  system.  On  the  other 
side,  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  find  any  special  facts  relative 
to  the  nature  of  the  fixed  stars,  which  may  enable  us  in  any 
degree  to  judge  how  far  they  really  are  of  a  like  nature  with 
the  Sun,  and  how  far  this  resemblance  goes.  We  may,  how- 
ever, notice  a  few  features  in  the  starry  heavens,  with  which, 
in  the  absence  of  any  stronger  grounds,  we  may  be  allowed  to 
connect  our  speculations  on  such  questions.     The  assiduous 


164  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

scrutiny  of  the  stars  which  has  been  pursued  by  the  most 
eminent  astronomers,  and  the  reflections  which  their  researches 
have  suggested  to  them,  may  have  a  new  interest,  when  dis- 
cussed under  this  point  of  view. 

2.  Next  after  the  Nebulae,  the  cases  which  may  most  natu- 
rally engage  our  attention,  are  Clusters  of  stars.  The  cases, 
indeed,  in  which  these  clusters  are  the  closest,  and  the  stars 
the  smallest,  and  in  which,  therefore,  it  is  only  by  the  aid  of 
a  good  telescope  that  they  are  resolved  into  stars,  do  not  dif- 
fer from  the  resolvable  nebulse,  except  in  the  degree  of  optical 
power  which  is  required  to  resolve  them.  We  may,  therefore, 
it  would  seem,  apply  to  such  clusters,  what  we  have  said  of 
resolvable  nebulee  :  that  when  they  are  thus,  by  the  application 
of  telescopic  power,  resolved  into  bright  points,  it  seems  to 
be  a  very  bold  assumption  to  assume,  without  further  proof, 
that  these  bright  points  are  suns,  distant  from  each  other  as 
far  as  we  are  from  the  nearest  stars.  The  boldness  of  such  an 
assumption  appears  to  be  felt  by  our  wisest  astronomers.* 
That  several  of  the  clusters  which  are  visible,  some  of  them 
appearing  as  if  the  component  stars  were  gathered  together  in 
a  nearly  spherical  form,  are  systems  bound  together  by  some 
special  force,  or  some  common  origin,  we  may  regard,  with 
those  astronomers,  as  in  the  highest  degree  probable.  With 
respect  to  the  stability  of  the  form  of  such  a  system,  a  curious 
remark  has  been  made  by  Sir  John  Herschel,f  that  if  we  sup- 
pose a  globular  space  filled  with  equal  stars,  uniformly  dis- 
persed through  it,  the  particular  stars  might  go  on  forever, 
describing  ellipses  about  the  centre  of  the  globe,  in  all  direc- 
tions, and  of  all  sizes  ;  and  all  completing  their  revolutions  in 
the  same  time.  This  follows,  because,  as  Newton  has  shown, 
in  such  a  case,  the  compound  force  which  tends  to  the  centre 
*  Herschel,  866.  f  Ibid.  866. 


THE     FIXED    STARS.  165 

of  the  sphere  would  be  everywhere  proportional  to  the  dis- 
tance from  the  centre ;  and  under  the  action  of  such  a  force, 
ellipses  about  the  centre  would  be  described,  all  the  periods 
being  of  the  same  amount.  This  kind  of  symmetrical  and 
simple  systematic  motion,  presented  by  Newton  as  a  mere 
exemplification  of  the  results  of  his  mechanical  prhiciples,  is 
perhaps  realized,  approximately  at  least,  in  some  of  the  globu- 
lar clusters.  The  motions  will  be  swift  or  slow,  according  to 
the  total  mass  of  the  groups.  If,  for  instance,  our  Sun  were 
thus  broken  into  fragments,  so  as  to  fill  the  sphere  girdled  by 
the  earth's  orbit,  all  the  fragments  would  revolve  round  the 
centre  in  a  year.  Now,  there  is  no  symptom,  in  any  cluster, 
of  its  parts  moving  nearly  so  fast  as  this ;  and  therefore  we 
have,  it  would  seem,  evidence  that  the  groups  are  much  less 
dense  than  would  be  the  space  so  filled  with'  fragments  of  the 
sun.  The  slowness  of  the  motions,  in  this  case,  as  in  the  neb- 
ulae, is  evidence  of  the  weakness  of  the  forces,  and  therefore, 
of  the  rarity  of  the  mass ;  and  till  we  have  some  gyratory 
motion  discovered  in  these  groups,  we  have  nothing  to  limit 
our  supposition  of  the  extreme  tenuity  of  their  total  substance. 
3.  Let  us  then  go  on  to  the  cases  in  which  we  have  proof 
of  such  gyratory  motions  in  the  stars  ;  for  such  are  not  want- 
ing. Fifty  years  ago,  Herschel  the  father,  had  already  ascer- 
tained that  there  are  certain  pairs  of  stars,  very  near  each 
other  (so  near,  indeed,  that  to  the  unassisted  eye  they  are 
seen  as  single  stars  only,)  and  which  revolve  about  each  other. 
These  Binary  Sidereal  Systems  have  since  been  examined  with 
immense  diligence  and  profound  skill  by  Herschel  the  son, 
and  others ;  and  the  number  of  such  binary  systems  has  been 
found,  by  such  observers,  to  be  very  considerable.  The  pe- 
riods of  their  revolutions  are  of  various  lengths,  from  30  or 
40  years  to  several  hundreds  of  years.     Some  of  those  pairs 


166  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

which  have  the  shortest  periods,  have  already,  since  the  nature 
of  their  movements  was  discovered,  performed  more  than  a 
complete  revolution  ;*  thus  leaving  no  room  for  doubting  that 
their  motions  are  really  of  this  gyratory  kind.  Not  only  the 
fact,  but  the  law  of  this  orbital  motion,  has  been  investigated ; 
and  the  investigations,  which  naturally  were  commenced  on 
the  hypothesis  that  these  distant  bodies  were  governed  by  that 
Law  of  universal  Gravitation,  which  prevails  throughout  the 
solar  system,  and  so  completely  explains  the  minutest  features 
of  its  motions,  have  ended  in  establishing  the  reality  of  that 
Law,  for  several  Binary  Systems,  with  as  complete  evidence 
as  that  which  carries  its  operations  to  the  orbits  of  Uranus 
and  Neptune. 

4.  Being  able  thus  to  discern,  in  distant  regions  of  the  uni- 
verse, bodies  revolving  about  each  other,  we  have  the  means 
of  determining,  as  we  do  in  our  own  solar  system,  the  masses 
of  the  bodies  so  revolving.  But  for  this  purpose,  we  must 
know  their  distance  from  each  other ;  which  is,  to  our  vision, 
exceedingly  small,  requiring,  as  we  have  said,  high  magnify- 
ing powers  to  make  it  visible  at  all.  And  again,  to  know  what 
linear  distance  this  small  visible  distance  represents,  we  must 
know  the  distance  of  the  stars  from  us,  which  is,  for  every 
star,  as  we  know,  immensely  great ;  and  for  most,  we  are 
destitute  of  all  means  of  determining  how  great  it  is.  There 
are,  however,  some  of  these  binary  systems,  in  which  astron- 
omers conceive  that  they  have  sufficiently  ascertained  the  value 
of  both  these  elements,  (the  distance  of  the  two  stars  from 
each  other,  and  from  us,)  to  enable  them  to  proceed  with  the 
calculation  of  which  I  have  spoken  ;  the  determination  of  the 
masses  of  the  revolving  bodies.  In  the  case  of  the  star  Alpha 
Ce?itaurij  the  first  star  in  the  constellation  of  the  Centaur,  the 

*  Herschel,  846. 


THE     FIXED     STARS.  167 

period  is  reckoned  to  be  77  years  ;  and  as,  by  the  same  calcu- 
lator, the  apparent  semi-axis  of  the  orbit  described  is  stated 
at  15  seconds  of  space,  while  the  annual  parallax  of  each  star 
Is  about  one  second,  it  is  evident  that  the  orbit  must  have  a 
radius  about  15  times  the  radius  of  the  earth's  orbit;  that  is, 
an  orbit  greater  than  that  of  Saturn,  and  approaching  to  that 
of  Uranus.  In  the  solar  system,  a  revolution  in  such  an  orbit 
would  occupy  a  time  greater  than  that  of  Saturn,  which  is  30 
years,  and  less  than  that  of  Uranus,  which  is  about  80  years : 
it  would,  in  fact,  be  about  58  years.  And  since,  in  the  binary 
star,  the  period  is  greater  than  this,  namely  77  years,  the  at- 
traction which  holds  together  its  two  elements  must  be  less 
than  that  which  holds  together  the  Sun  and  a  planet  at  the 
same  distance ;  and  therefore  the  masses  of  the  two  stars  to- 
gether  are  considerably  less  than  the  mass  of  our  sun. 

5.  A  like  conclusion  is  derived  from  another  of  these  con- 
spicuous double  stars,  namely,  the  one  termed  by  astronomers 
61  Cygni ;  of  which  the  annual  parallax  has  lately  been  ascer- 
tained to  be  one-third  of  a  second  of  space,  while  the  distance 
of  the  two  stars  is  15  seconds.  Here  therefore  we  have  an 
orbit  45  times  the  size  of  the  Earth's  orbit ;  larger  than  that 
of  the  newly-discovered  planet  Neptune,  whose  orbit  is  30 
times  as  large  as  the  earth's,  and  his  period  nearly  165  years. 
The  period  of  61  Cygni  is  however,  it  appears,  probably  noj 
short  of  500  years  ;  and  hence  it  is  calculated  that  the  sum  of 
the  masses  of  the  two  stars  which  make  up  this  pair  is  abou* 
one-third  of  the  mass  of  our  Sun.* 

6.  These  results  give  some  countenance  to  the  opinion,  that 
the  quantity  of  luminous  matter,  in  other  systems,  does  not 
differ  very  considerably  from  the  mass  of  our  Sun.  It  differs 
in  these  cases  as  1  to  3,  or  thereabouts.     In  what  degree  of 

*  Herschel,  848. 


t68  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

condensation,  however,  the  matter  of  these  binary  systems  is, 
compared  with  that  of  our  solar  system,  we  have  no  means 
whatever  of  knowing.  Each  of  the  two  stars  may  have  its 
Imninous  matter  diffused  through  a  globe  as  large  as  the  earth's 
orbit ;  and  in  that  case,  would  probably  not  be  more  dense 
than  the  tail  of  a  comet.*  It  is  observed  by  astronomers,  that 
in  the  pairs  of  binary  stars  which  we  have  naentioned,  the  two 
stars  of  each  pair  are  of  different  colors ;  the  stars  being  of  a 
high  yellow,  approaching  to  orange  color, j-  but  the  smaller  in- 
dividual being  in  each  case  of  a  deeper  tint.  This  miight  sug- 
gest to  us  the  conjecture  that  the  smaller  mass  had  cooled 
further  below  the  point  of  high  luminosity  than  the  larger ; 
but  that  both  these  degrees  of  light  belong  to  a  condition  still 
progressive,  and  probably  still  gaseous.  Without  attaching 
any  great  value  to  such  conjectures,  they  appear  to  be  at  least 
as  well  authorized  as  the  supposition  that  each  of  these  stars, 
thus  different,  is  nevertheless  precisely  in  the  condition  of  our 
sun. 

7.  But,  even  granting  that  each  of  the  individuals  of  this  pair 
were  a  sun  like  ours,  in  the  nature  of  its  material  and  its  state 
of  condensation,  is  it  probable  that  it  resembles  our  Sun  also 
in  having  planets  revolving  about  it  ?  A  system  of  planets  re- 
volving around  or  among  a  pair  of  suns,  which  are,  at  the  same 
time,  revolving  about  one  another,  is  so  complex  a  scheme,  so 
impossible  to  arrange  in  a  stable  manner,  that  the  assumption 
of  the  existence  of  such  schemes,  without  a  vestige  of  evidence, 
can  hardly  require  confutation.  No  doubt,  if  we  were  really 
required  to  provide  such  a  binary  system  of  suns  with  attend- 

*  That  these  systems  have  not  condensed  to  one  centre,  appears  to 
imply  a  less  complete  degree  of  condensation  than  exists  in  those  sys- 
tems which  have  done  so. 

f  Herschel,  850. 


THE     FIXED     STARS.  169 

ant  planets,  this  would  be  best  done  by  putting  the  planets  so 
near  to  one  sun,  that  they  should  not  be  sensibly  affected  by 
the  other  ;  and  this  is  accordingly  what  has  been  proposed.* 
Tor,  as  has  been  well  said  of  the  supposed  planets,  in  making 
this  proposal,  "  Unless  closely  nestled  under  the  protecting 
wing  of  their  immediate  superior,  the  sweep  of  the  other  sun 
in  his  perihelion  passage  round  their  own,  might  carry  them  off, 
or  whirl  them  into  orbits  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  existence 
of  their  inhabitants."  To  assume  the  existence  of  the  inhabit- 
ants, in  spite  of  such  dangers,  and  to  provide  against  the  dan- 
gers by  placing  them  so  close  to  one  sun  as  to  be  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  other,  though  the  whole  distance  of  the  two  may 
not,  and  as  we  have  seen,  in  some  cases  does  not,  exceed  the 
dimensions  of  our  solar  system,  is  showing  them  all  the  favor 
which  is  possible.  But  in  making  this  provision,  it  is  over- 
looked that  it  may  not  be  possible  to  keep  them  in  permanent 
orbits  so  neai  to  the  selected  centre  :  their  sun  may^be  a  vast 
sphere  of  luminous  vapor  ;  and  the  planets,  plunged  into  this 
atmosphere,  may,  instead  of  describing  regular  orbits,  plough 
their  way  in  spiral  paths  through  the  nebulous  abyss  to  its  cen- 
tral nucleus. 

8.  Clustered  stars,  then,  and  double  stars,  appear  to  give  us 
but  little  promise  of  inhabitants.  We  must  next  turn  our  at- 
tention to  the  single  stars,  as  the  most  hopeful  cases.  Indeed, 
it  is  certain  that  no  one  would  have  thought  of  regarding  the 
individual  stars  of  clusters,  or  of  pairs,  as  the  centres  of  plan- 
etary systems,  if  the  view  of  insulated  stars,  as  the  centres  of 
such  systems,  had  not  already  become  familiar,  and,  we  may 
say,  established.  What,  then,  is  the  probability  of  that  view  1 
Ts  there  good  evidence  that  the  Fixed  Stars,  or  some  of  them, 

*  Herschel,  84'7. 
8 


170  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

really  have  planets  revolving  round  them  ?     What  is  the  kind 
of  proof  which  we  have  of  this  1 

9.  To  this  we  raust  reply,  that  the  only  proof  that  the  fixed 
stars  are  the  centres  of  planetary  systems,  resides  in  the  as- 
sumption that  those  stars  are  like  the  Sun  ; — resemble  him  in 
their  qualities  and  nature,  and  therefore,  it  is  inferred,  must 
have  the  same  offices,  and  the  same  appendages.  They  are, 
as  the  Sun  is,  independent  sources  of  light,  and  thence,  prob- 
ably, of  heat ;  and  therefore  they  must  have  attendant  planets, 
to  which  they  can  impart  their  light  and  heat ;  and  these  plan- 
ets must  have  inhabitants,  who  live  under  and  enjoy  those  in- 
fluences. This  is,  probably,  the  kind  of  reasoning  on  which 
those  rely,  v/ho  regard  the  fixed  stars  as  so  many  worlds,  or 
centres  of  families  of  worlds. 

10.  Everything  in  this  argument,  therefore,  depends  upon 
this  :  that  the  Stars  are  like  the  Sun  ;  and  we  must  consider, 
what  evidence  we  have  of  the  exactness  of  this  likeness. 

11.  The  Stars  are  like  the  Sun  in  this,  that  they  shine  with 
an  independent  light,  not  with  a  borrowed  light,  as  the  planets 
shine.  In  this,  however,  the  stars  resemble,  not  only  the  Sun, 
but  the  nebulous  patches  in  the  sky,  and  the  tales  of  comets  ; 
for  these  also,  in  all  probability,  shine  with  an  original  light. 
Probably  it  will  hardly  be  urged  that  we  see,  by  the  very  ap 
pearance  of  the  stars,  that  they  are  of  the  nature  of  the  Sun  : 
for  the  appearance  of  luminaries  in  the  sky  is  so  far  from  en- 
abling us  to  discriminate  the  nature  of  their  light,  that  to  a 
common  eye,  a  jDlanet  and  a  fixed  star  appear  alike  as  stars. 
There  is  no  obvious  distinction  between  the  original  light  of 
the  stars  and  the  reflected  light  of  the  planets.  The  stars, 
then,  being  like  the  sun  in  being  luminous,  does  it  follow  that 
they  are,  like  the  sun,  definite  dense  masses  ?*     Or  are  they, 

*  The  density  of  the  sun  is  about  as  great  as  the  density  of  water. 


THE     FIXED     STARS.  171 

or  many  of  them,  luminous  masses  in  a  far  more  diffused 
state  ;  visually  contracted  to  points,  by  the  immense  distance 
from  us  at  which  they  are  1 

12.  We  have  seen  that  some  of  those  stars,  which  we  have 
the  best  means  of  examining,  are,  in  mass,  one  third,  or  less, 
of  our  Sun.  If  such  a  mass,  at  the  distance  of  the  fixed  stars, 
were  diffused  through  a  sphere  equal  in  radius  to  the  earth's 
orbit,  it  would  still  appear  to  us  as  a  point ;  as  is  evident  by 
this,  that  the  fixed  stars,  for  the  most  part,  have  no  discover- 
able annual  parallax  ;  that  is,  the  earth's  orbit  appears  to  them 
a  point.  If  one  of  the  fixed  stars,  Sirius,  for  instance,  be  in 
this  diffused  condition,  such  a  circumstance  will  not,  mechan- 
ically speaking,  prevent  his  having  planets  revolving  round 
him;  for,  as  we  have  said,  the  attraction  of  his  whole  mass,  in 
whatever  state  of  spherical  diffusion,  will  be  the  same  as  if  it 
were  collected  at  the  centre.  But  such  a  state  of  diffusion  will 
make  him  so  unlike  our  Sun,  as  much  to  break  the  force  of  the 
presumption  that  he  must  have  planets  because  our  Sun  has. 
If  the  luminous  matter  of  the  stars  gradually  cools,  grows 
dark,  and  solidifies,  such  diffusion  would  imply  that  the  time  of 
solidification  is  not  yet  begun ;  and  therefore  that  the  solid 
planets  which  accompany  the  luminous  central  body  are  not 
yet  brought  into  being.  If  there  be  any  truth  in  this  hypo- 
thetical account  of  the  changes,  through  v/hich  the  matter  of 
the  stars  successively  passes ;  and  if,  by  such  changes,  plane- 
tary systems  are  formed  ;  how  many  of  the  fixed  stars  may 
never  yet  have  reached  the  planetary  state !  how  many,  for 
want  of  some  necessary  mechanical  condition,  may  never  give 
rise  to  permanent  orbits  at  all ! 

13.  And    that  the  matter  of  the  stars  does    go    through 
changes,  we  have  evidence,  in  many  such  changes  which  have 


172  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

actually  been  observed  ;*  and  perhaps  in  the  different  colors  of 
different  stars ;  which  may,  not  improbably,  arise  from  their 
being  at  different  stages  of  their  progress.  That  planetary 
systems,  once  formed,  go  through  mighty  changes,  we  have 
evidence  in  the  view  which  geology  gives  us  of  the  history  of 
this  earth  ;  and  in  that  view,  we  see  also,  how  unique,  and  how 
far  elevated  in  its  purpose,  the  last  period  of  this  history  may 
be,  compared  with  the  preceding  periods ;  and,  up  to  the  pres- 
ent time  at  least,  how  comparatively  brief  in  its  duration.  If, 
therefore,  stellar  globes  can  become  planetary  systems  in  the 
progress  of  ages,  it  will  not  be  at  all  inconsistent  with  what 
we  know  of  the  order  of  nature,  that  only  a  few,  or  even  that 
only  one,  should  have  yet  reached  that  condition.  All  the 
others,  but  the  one,  may  be  systems  yet  unformed,  or  frag- 
m.ents  struck  off  in  the  forming  of  the  one.  If  any  one  is  not 
satisfied  with  this  account  of  the  decree  of  resemblance  be- 
tween  the  fixed  stars  and  the  sun,  but  would  make  the  likeness 
greater  than  this  ;  we  have  only  to  say,  that  the  proof  that  it 
is  so  lies  upon  him.  Such  a  resemblance  as  we  have  supposed, 
is  all  that  the  facts  suggest.  That  the  stars  are  independent  lu- 
minaries, we  see  ;  but  whether  they  are  as  dense  as  the  sun,  or 
globes  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  times  as  rare,  we  have  no 
means  whatever  of  knowing.  And,  to  assume  that  besides 
these  luminous  bodies  which  we  see,  there  are  dark  bodies 
which  we  do  not  see,  revolving  round  the  others  in  permanent 
orbits,  which  require  special  mechanical  conditions;  and  to 
suppose  this,  in  order  that  we  may  build  upon  this  assumption 
a  still  larger  one,  that  of  living  inhabitants  of  these  dark 
bodies ;  is  a  hypothetical  procedure,  which  it  seems  strange 
that  we  should  have  to  combat,  at  the  present  stage  of  the 
history  of  science,  and  in  dealing  with  those  whose  minds  have 

*  Herschel,  82'7— 832. 


THE     FIXED    STARS.  173 

been  disciplined  by  the  previous  events  in  the  progress  of  as- 
tronomy. 

14.  Let  us  consider,  however,  further,  how  far  astronomy 
authorizes  us  to  regard  the  Fixed  Stars  as  being,  tike  our  Sun,  | 
the  centres  of  systems  of  Planets.  Those  who  hold  this,  con- 
sider them  as  having  a  permanent  condition  of  brightness,  as 
our  Sun  has  had  for  an  indefinite  period,  so  far  as  we  have  any 
knowledge  on  the  subject.  Yet,  as  we  have  said,  no  small 
number  of  the  stars  undergo  changes  of  brightness ;  and  some 
of  them  undergo  such  changes,  in  a  manner  which  is  not  dis- 
cernibly  periodical ;  and  which  must  therefore  be  regarded  as 
progressive.  This  phenomenon  countenances  the  opinion  of 
such  a  progress  from  one  material  condition  to  another  ;  which, 
we  have  seen,  is  suggested  by  the  analogy  of  the  probable  for- 
mation of  our  own  solar  system.  The  very  star  which  is  so 
often  taken  as  the  probable  centre  of  a  system,  Sirius,  has,  in 
the  course  of  the  last  2,000  years,  changed  its  light  from  red 
to  white.  Ptolemy  notes  it  as  a  red  star  :  in  Tycho's  time  it 
was  already,  as  it  is  now,  a  white  one.*  The  star  Eta  Argus 
changes  both  its  degree  of  light  and  its  color ;  ranging,  in 
seemingly  irregular  intervals  of  time,  from  the  fourth  to  the 
first  magnitude,!  and  from  yellow  to  red.  Several  other  ex- 
amples of  the  like  kind  have  been  observed.  Mr.  Hind|  gives 
an  example  in  which  he  has,  quite  recently,  observed  in  two 
years  a  star  change  its  color  from  very  red  to  bluish.  These 
variable  unperiodical  stars  are  probably  very  numerous. 
Also,  some  stars,  observed  of  old,  are  now  become  invisible. 
"  The  lost  Pleiad,"  by  the  loss  of  which  the  cluster,  called  the 
Seven  Stars,  offers  now  only  six  to  the  naked  eye,  is  an  ex- 

*  Cosmos,  m.  169,  205,  and  641. 

I  Ibid.,  m.  172  and  252. 

X  Astron.  Soc.  Notices,  Dec.  13,  1850. 


L 


174  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

ample  of  a  change  of  this  kind  already  noted  in  ancient  times. 
There  are  several  others,  of  which  the  extinction  is  recognized 
loy  astronomers  as  proved.*  In  other  cases,  new  stars  have 
appeared,  and  have  then  seemed  to  die  away  and  vanish.  The 
apuearance  of  a  new  star  in  the  time  of  the  Greek  astronomer 
Hipparchus,  induced  him  to  construct  his  famous  Catalogue  of 
the  Stars.  Others  are  recorded  to  have  appeared  in  the 
middle  ages.  The  first  which  was  observed  by  modern  as- 
tronomers was  the  celebrated  star  seen  by  Tycho  Brahe  in 
1572.  It  appeared  suddenly  in  the  constellation  Cassiopeia, 
was  fixed  in  its  place  like  the  neighboring  stars,  had  no  nebula 
or  tail,  exceeded  in  splendor  all  other  stars,  being  as  bright  as 
Venus  when  she  is  nearest  the  earth.  It  soon  began  to  dimin- 
ish in  brightness,  and  passing  through  various  diminishing 
degrees  of  magnitude,  vanished  altogether  after  seventeen 
months.  This  star  also  passed  through  various  colors  ;  being 
first  white,  then  yellow,  then  red.  In  like  manner,  in  1604,  a 
new  star  of  great  magnitude  blazed  forth  in  the  constellation 
Serpen tari us ;  and  was  seen  by  Kepler.  And  this  also,  like 
that  of  1572,  after  a  few  months,  declined  and  vanished. 

15.  These  appearances  led  Tycho  to  frame  an  hypothesis 
like  that  which  Sir  William  Herschel  afterwards  proposed, 
that  the  stars  are  formed  by  the  condensation  of  luminous 
nebulous  matter.  Nor  is  it  easy  to  think  of  such  phenomena 
(of  which  several  others  have  been  observed,  though  none  so 
conspicuous  as  these),  without  regarding  them  as  showing  that 
the  matter  of  the  fixed  stars,  occasionally  at  least,  passes 
through  changes  of  consistence  as  great  as  would  be  the  con- 
densation and  extinction  of  a  luminous  vapor.  And  if  such 
changes  have  been  but  few  within  the  recorded  period  of  man's 
observation  of  the  stars,  we  must  recollect  how  small  that  pe- 
*  See  Grant's  Hist,  of  Physical  Astronomy,  p.  538. 


THEFIXED     STARS.  175 

riod  is,  compared  with,  the  period  during  which  the  stars  have 
existed.  The  stars  themselves  give  us  testimony  of  their  hav- 
ing been  in  being  for  millions  of  years.  For  according  to  the 
best  estimates  we  can  form  of  their  distances,  the  time  which 
light  would  employ  in  reaching  us  from  the  most  remote  of 
them,  would  be  millions  of  years ;  and,  therefore,  we  now  see 
those  remote  stars  by  means  of  the  light  emitted  from  them 
millions  of  years  ago.  And  if,  in  the  2,000  years  during  which 
such  observations  are  recorded,  only  200  stars  have  under- 
gone such  changes  in  a  degree  visible  to  the  earth's  inhab- 
itants ;  in  a  million  of  years,  change  going  on  at  the  same  rate, 
100,000  stars  would  exhibit  visible  progressive  change,  show- 
ing that  they  had  not  yet  reached  a  permanent  condition. 
And  how  much  of  change  may  go  on  in  any  star  without  its 
being  in  any  degree  perceptible  to  the  naost  exact  astronom.i- 
cal  scrutiny  ! 

16.  The  tendency  of  these  considerations  is,  to  lead  us  to 
think  that  the  fixed  stars  are  not  generally  in  that  permanent 
condition  in  which  our  sun  is ;  and  which  appears  to  be  alone 
consistent  with  the  existence  of  a  system  such  as  the  solar  sys- 
tem.* These  views,  therefore,  fall  in  with  that  which  we  have 
been  led  to  by  this  consideration  of  the  Nebuloe :  that  the 
Solar  System  is  in  a  more  complete  and  advanced  state,  as  a 
system,  than  many  at  least  of  the  stellar  systems  can  be ;  it 
niay  be,  than  any  other. 

17.  It  has  been  alleged,  as  a  proof  of  the  likeness  of  the 
Fixed  Stars  to  our  Sun,  that  like  him,  they  revolve  upon  their 
axes.f     This  has  been  supposed  to  be  proved  with   regard 

*  I  am  aware  of  certain  speculations,  and  especially  of  some  recent 
ones,  tending  to  show  that  even  our  Sun  is  wasting  away  by  the 
emission  of  light  and  heat ;  but  these  opinions,  even  if  established,  do 
not  much  affect  our  argument,  one  way  or  the  other. 

f  Chambers'  Astron.  Disc.  p.  39. 


176  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

to  many  of  them,  by  their  having  periodical  recurrences  of 
fainter  and  brighter  lustre ;  as  if  they  were  revolving  orbs, 
with  one  side  darkened  by  spots.  Such  facts  are  not  very 
numerous  or  definite  in  the  heavens.  Omicron^  in  the  con- 
stellation Cetus^  is  the  longest  known  of  them  ;  and  is  held  to 
revolve  in  831  days.  From  the  curious  phenomena  now 
spoken  of,  it  has  been  called  Mira  Ceti.\  Algol^  the  second 
star  {BetcL)  of  Perseus,  called  also  Caput  Medusce,  is  another, 
with  a  period  of  2  days  21  hours ;  and  in  this  case,  the  obscu- 
ration of  the  light,  and  the  restoration  of  it,  are  so  sudden, 
that  from  the  time  when  it  was  first  remarked,  (by  Goodricke, 
in  1782,)  it  suggested  the  hypothesis  of  an  opaque  body  re- 
volving round  the  star.  The  star  Delta,  in  the  constellation 
Cephus,  is  another,  with  a  period  of  5  days  9  hours.  The  star  Beta 
in  the  Lyre,  has  a  period  of  6  days  10  hours,  or  perhaps  12  days 
21  hours,  one  revolution  having  been  taken  for  two.  Another  such 
star  is  Eta  Aquilce,  with  a  period  of  7  days  4  hours.  These  five 
are  all  the  periodical  stars  of  which  astronomers  can  spepk 
with  precision.^  But  about  thirty  more  are  supposed  to  be 
subject  to  such  change,  though  their  periods,  epochs,  and 
phases  of  brightness,  cannot  at  present  be  given  exactly. 

18.  That  these  periodical  changes  in  certain  of  the  fixer" 
stars  are  a  curious  and  interesting  astronomical  fact,  is  indis- 
putable. Nothing  can  be  more  probable  also,  than  that  it  in- 
dicates, in  the  stellar  masses,  a  revolution  on  their  axes  ;  which 

*  Hersch.  820. 

f  The  periodical  character  of  this  star  was  discovered  by  David 
Fabricius,  a  parish  priest  in  East  Friesland,  the  father  of  John  Fabri- 
cius,  who  discovered  the  solar  spots.     {Cosmos,  m.  234.) 

\  Hersch.  825.  In  Humboldt's  Cosmos,  iii.  243,  Argelander,  who 
has  most  carefully  observed  and  studied  thebvi  periodical  stars,  has 
given  a  catalogue  containing  24,  with  the  most  recent  determinations 
of  their  periods. 


THE     riXED     STARS.  177 

cannot  surprise  us,  seeing  that  revolution  upon  an  axis  is,  so 
far  as  we  know,  a  universal  law  of  all  the  large  compact  masses 
of  matter  which  exist  in  the  universe  ;  and  may  be  conceived 
to  be  a  result  derived  from  their  origin,  and  a  condition  of  any 
permanent  or  nearly  permanent  figure.  But  this  can  prove 
little  or  nothing  as  to  their  being  like  the  sun,  in  any  way 
which  implies  their  having  inhabitants,  in  themselves  or  in  ac- 
companying planets.  The  rotation  of  our  Sun  is  not,  in  any 
intelligible  way,  connected  with  its  having  near  it  the  inhabited 
Earth. 

19.  If  we  were  to  suppose  some  of  the  stars  to  be  centres 
of  planetary  systems,  we  can  hardly  suppose  it  likely  that 
these  alone  rotate,  and  that  the  others  stand  still.  Probably 
all  the  stars  rotate,  more  or  less  regularly,  according  as  they 
are  permanent  or  variable  in  form  ;  but  the  most  regular  may 
still  have  no  planets  ;  and  if  they  have,  those  planets  may  be 
as  blank  of  inhabitants  as  our  moon  will  be  proved  to  be. 

20.  The  revolution  of  Algol  seems  to  approach  the  nearest 
to  a  fact  in  favor  of  a  star  being  the  centre  of  a  revolving 
system  ;  and  from  the  first,  as  we  have  said,  the  periodical 
change,  and  the  sudden  darkening  and  brightening  of  this  lu- 
minary, suggested  the  supposition  of  an  opaque  body  revolving 
about  it.  But  this  body  cannot  be  a  planet.  The  planets 
which  revolve  about  our  Sun  are  not,  any  of  them,  nor  all  of 
them  together,  large  enough  to  produce  a  perceptible  obscura- 
tion of  his  light,  to  a  spectator  outside  the  system.  But  in 
Algol,  the  phenomena  are  very  different  from  this.*     The  star 

*  Hersch.  821.  Humboldt  (Cosmos,  ni.  238  and  246,)  gives  the  pe- 
riod as  68  hours  49  minutes,  and  says  that  it  is  7  or  8  hours  in  its  less 
bright  state.  If  we  could  suppose  the  times  of  the  warning,  and  of 
the  greatest  eclipse,  given  by  Hersehel,  to  be  exactly  determined,  as 
3^  and  i,  that  is,  m  the  proportion  of  14  to  1,  the  darkening  body 
must  have   ts  effective  breadth  yf  of  that  of  the  star.     But  this  is  on 

8# 


178  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

is  usually  visible  as  a  star  of  the  second  magnitude  ;  but  dur- 
mg  eacli  period  of  2  days  21  hours,  (or  69  hours,)  it  suffers  a 
kind  of  eclipse,  which  reduces  it  to  a  star  of  the  fourth  mag- 
nitude. During  this  eclipse,  the  star  diminishes  in  splendor 
for  3|-  hours  ;  is  at  its  lowest  brightness  for  a  quarter  of  an 
hour ;  and  then,  in  3|-  hours  more,  is  restored  to  its  original 
splendor.  According  to  these  numbers,  if  the  obscuration  be 
produced  by  a  dark  body  revolving  round  a  central  luminary, 
and  describing  a  circular  orbit,  as  the  regular  recurrence  of  the 
obscuration  implies,  the  space  of  the  orbit  during  which  the 
eclipsing  body  is  interposed  must  be  about  one-ninth  of  the 
circumference ;  for  the  obscuration  occupies  7^  hours  out  of 
69.  And  therefore  the  space  during  which  the  eclipsing  body 
obscures  the  central  one,  must  be  about  one  sixth  of  the 
diameter  of  its  orbit.  Bnt  in  order  that  the  revolving  body 
may,  through  this  space,  obscure  the  central  one,  the  latter 
must  extend  over  this  space,  namely,  one  sixth  of  the  diameter 
of  the  orbit.  But  we  may  remark  that  there  is  no  proof,  in 
the  phenomena,  that  the  darkening  body  is  detached  from  the 
bright  mass.  The  effect  would  be  the  same  if  the  dark  mass 
were  a  part  of  the  revolving  star  itself.  It  may  be  that  the 
star  has  not  yet  assumed  a  spherical  form,  but  is  an  oblong 
nebular  mass  with  one  part  (perhaps  from  being  thinner  in 
texture)  cooled  down  and  become  opaque.  And  the  amount 
of  obscuration,  reducing  the  star  from  the  second  to  the  fourth 
magnitude,  implies  that  the  obscuring  mass  is  large  (perhaps 
one  half  the  diameter,  or  much  more)  compared  with  the  lu- 
minous mass.  If  this  be  a  probable  hypothesis  to  account  for 
the  phenomena,  they  are  much  more  against  than  for  the  sup- 

the  supposition  that  tlie  oi'bit  of  the  darkening  body  lias  tlie  spec- 
tator's eye  in  its  plane ;  if  this  be  not  so,  the  darkening  body  may  be 
much  larger. 


THE     FIXED     STARS.  179 

position  of  the  star  being  the  centre  of  seats  of  habitation. 
And  even  if  we  have  a  planet  nearly  as  large  as  its  sun,  re- 
volving at  the  distance  of  only  six  of  the  sun's  radii,  how 
unlike  is  this  to  the  solar  system  ! 

21.  In  fact,  all  these  periodical  stars,  in  so  far  as  they  are 
periodical,  are  proved,  not  to  be  like,  but  to  be  unlike  owv 
sun.  It  is  true  that  the  sun  has  spots,  by  means  of  which  his 
rotation  has  been  determined  by  astronomers.  But  these  spots, 
besides  being  so  small  that  they  produce  no  perceptible  alter- 
ation in  his  brightness,  and  are  never,  or  very  rarely,  visible 
to  the  naked  eye,  are  not  permanent.  A  star  with  a  perma- 
nent dark  side  would  be  very  unlike  our  sun.  The  largest 
known  of  these  stars,  Mira^  as  the  old  astronomers  called  it, 
becomes  invisible  to  the  naked  eye  for  5  months  during  a  pe- 
riod  of  11  months.  It  must,  therefore,  have  nearly  one  half 
its  surface  quite  dark.  This  is  very  unlike  the  condition  of 
the  sun  ;  and  is  a  condition,  it  would  seem,  very  little  fitted  to 
make  this  star  the  centre  of  a  planetary  system  like  ours. 

22.  But  there  are  other  remarkable  phenomena  respecting 
these  periodical  stars,  which  have  a  bearing  on  our  subject. 
Their  periods  are  not  quite  regular,  but  are  subject  to  certain 
variations.  Thus  it  has  been  supposed  that  the  period  of 
Mira  is  subject  to  a  cyclical  fluctuation,  embracing  88  of  its 
periods  ;  that  is,  about  80  years.  But  this  notion  of  a  cycle 
of  so  long  a  duration,  requires  confirmation  ;  the  fact  of  fluc- 
tuation in  the  period  is  alone  certain.  In  like  manner,  Algol's 
periods  are  not  quite  uniform.  All  these  facts  agree  with  our 
suggestion,  that  the  periodical  stars  are  bodies  of  luminous 
matter  which  have  not  yet  assumed  a  permanent  form  ;  and 
which,  therefore,  as  they  revolve  about  their  axes,  and  turn  to 
us  their  darker  and  their  brighter  parts,  do  so  at  intervals,  and 
in  an  order  somewhat  variable.     And  this  suggestion  appears 


\ 


180  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

to  be  remarkably  confirmed,  by  a  result  which  recent  observa- 
tions have  discovered  relative  to  this  star,  Algol ;  namely, 
that  its  periods  become  shorter  and  shorter.  For  if  the  lumin- 
ous matter,  which  is  thus  revolving,  be  gradually  gathering 
into  a  more  condensed  form ; — ^becoming  less  rare,  or  more 
compact ;  as,  for  instance,  it  would  do,  if  it  were  collecting 
itself  from  an  irregular,  or  elongated,  into  a  more  spherical 
form ;  such  a  shortening  of  the  period  of  revolution  would 
take  place ;  for  a  mass  which  contracts  while  it  is  revolving, 
accelerates  its  rate  of  revolution,  by  mechanical  principles. 
And  thus  we  do  appear  to  have,  in  this  observed  acceleration 
of  the  periods  of  Algol,  an  evidence  that  that  luminous  mass 
has  not  yet  reached  its  final  and  permanent  condition. 

23.  It  is  true,  it  has  been  conjectured,  by  high  authority,* 
that  this  accelerated  rapidity  of  the  periods  of  Algol  will  not 
continue ;  but  will  gradually  relax,  and  then  be  changed  to  an 
increase  ;  like  many  other  cyclical  combinations  in  astronomy. 
But  this  conjecture  seems  to  have  little  to  support  it.  The 
cases  in  which  an  acceleration  of  motion  is  retarded,  checked, 
and  restored,  all  belong  to  our  Solar  System  ;  and  to  assume 
that  Algol,  like  the  solar  system,  has  assumed  a  permanent  and 
balanced  condition,  is  to  take  for  granted  precisely  the  point 
in  question.  We  know  of  no  such  cycles  among  the  fixed 
stars,  at  least  with  any  certainty  ;  for  the  cycle  proposed  for 
Mira  must  be  considered  as  greatly  needing  confirmation ; 
considering  how  long  is  the  cycle,  and  how  recent  the  sugges 
tion  of  its  existence. 

24.  And  even  in  the  solar  system,  we  have  accelerated  mo- 
tions, in  which  no  mathematician  or  astronomer  looks  for  a 

*  Herscii.  Outl.  Astr.  821.  Another  explanation  of  the  variable 
period  of  Algol,  is  that  the  star  is  moving  towards  us,  and  therefore 
the  light  occupies  less  and  less  time  to  reach  us. 


THE     FIXED     STARS.  181 

check  or  regress  of  the  acceleration.  No  one  expects  that 
Encke's  comet  will  cease  to  be  accelerated,  and  to  revolve  in 
periods  continually  shorter  ;  though  all  the  other  motions  hith- 
erto observed  in  the  system  are  cyclical.  In  the  case  of  a  fixed 
star,  we  have  much  less  reason  to  look  for  such  a  cycle,  than 
we  have  in  Encke's  comet.  But  further :  with  regard  to  the 
existence  of  such  a  cycle  of  faster  and  slower  motion  in  the 
case  of  Algol,  the  most  recent  observed  facts  are  strongly 
against  it ;  for  it  has  been  observed  by  Argelander,  that  not 
only  there  is  a  diminution  of  the  period,  but  that  this  diminu- 
tioa  proceeds  with  accelerated  rapidity ;  a  course  of  events 
which,  in  no  instance,  in  the  whole  of  the  cosmical  movements, 
ends  in  a  regression,  retardation,  and  restoration  of  the  former 
rate.  We  are  led  to  believe,  therefore,  that  this  remarkable 
luminary  will  go  on  revolving  faster  and  faster,  till  its  extreme 
point  of  condensation  is  attained.  And  in  the  meantime,  we 
have  very  strong  reasons  to  believe  that  this  mutable  body  is 
not,  like  the  sun,  a  permanent  centre  of  a  permanent  system  ; 
and  that  any  argument  drawn  from  its  supposed  likeness  to  the 
sun,  in  favor  of  the  supposition  that  the  regions  which  are  near 
it  are  the  seats  of  habitation,  is  quite  baseless. 

25.  There  are  other  phenomena  of  the  Fixed  Stars,  and  other 
conjectures  of  astronomers  respecting  them,  which  I  need  not 
notice,  as  they  do  not  appear  to  have  any  bearing  upon  our 
subject.  Such  are  the  "  proper  motions"  of  the  stars,  and  the 
explanation  which  has  been  suggested  of  some  of  them ;  that 
they  arise  from  the  stars  revolving  round  other  stars  which  are 
dark,  and  therefore  invisible.  Such  again  is  the  attempt  to 
show  that  the  Sun,  carrying  with  it  the  whole  Solar  System, 
is  in  motion ;  and  the  further  attempt  to  show  the  direction 
of  this  motion ;  and  again,  the  hypothesis  that  the  Sun  itself 
revolves  round  some  distant  body  in  space.     These  minute  in- 


182  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

quiries  and  bold  conjectures,  as  to  the  movements  of  the  masses 
of  matter  which  occupy  the  universe,  do  not  throw  any  light 
on  the  question  whether  any  part  besides  the  earth  is  inhab- 
ited ;  any  more  than  the  investigation  of  the  movements  of  the 
ocean,  and  of  their  laws,  could  prove  or  disprove  the  existence 
of  marine  plants  and  animals.  They  do  not  on  that  account 
cease  to  be  important  and  interesting  subjects  of  speculation  ; 
but  they  do  not  belong  to  our  subject. 

26.  In  Fontenelle's  Dialogues  on  the  Plurality  of  Worlds^ 
a  work  which  may  be  considered  as  having  given  this  subject 
a  place  in  popular  literature,  he  illustrates  his  argument  by  a 
comparison,  which  it  may  be  worth  while  to  look  at  for  a 
moment.  The  speaker  who  asserts  that  the  moon,  the  planets, 
and  the  stars,  are  the  seats  of  habitation,  describes  the  person, 
who  denies  this,  as  resembling  a  citizen  of  Paris,  who,  seeing 
from  the  towers  of  Notre  Dame  the  town  of  Saint  Denis, 
(it  being  supposed  that  no  communication  between  the  two 
places  had  ever  occurred,)  denies  tha^t  it  is  inhabited,  because 
he  cannot  see  the  inhabitants.  Of  course  the  conclusion  is 
easy,  if  we  may  thus  take  for  granted  that  what  he  sees  is  a 
town.  But  we  may  modify  this  image,  so  as  to  represent 
our  argument  more  fairly.  Let  it  be  supposed  that  we 
inhabit  an  island,  from  which  innumerable  other  islands  are 
visible ;  but  the  art  of  navigation  being  quite  unknown,  we  are 
ignorant  whether  any  of  them  are  inhabited.  In  some  of  these 
islands,  are  seen  masses  more  or  less  resembling  churches  ;  and 
some  of  our  neighbors  assert  that  these  are  churches ;  that 
churches  must  be  surrounded  by  houses  ;  and  that  houses 
must  have  inhabitants.  Others  hold  that  the  seeming  churches 
are  only  peculiar  forms  of  rocks.  In  this  state  of  the  debate, 
everything  depends  upon  the  degree  of  resemblance  to  churches 
which  the  forms  exhibit.     But  suppose  that  telescopes  are  in- 


THE     FIXED     STARS.  183 

vented,  and  employed  with  diligence  upon  the  questionable 
shapes.  In  a  long  course  of  careful  and  skilful  examination, 
no  house  is  seen,  and  the  rocks  do  not  at  all  become  more  like 
churches,  rather  the  contrary.  So  far,  it  would  seem,  the  prob- 
ability of  inhabitants  in  the  islands  is  lessened.  But  there  are 
other  reasons  brought  into  view.  Our  island  is  a  long  extinct 
volcano,  with  a  tranquil  and  fertile  soil ;  but  the  other  islands 
are  apparently  somewhat  diiferent.  Some  of  them  are  active 
volcanoes,  the  volcanic  operations  covering,  so  far  as  we  can 
discern,  the  whole  island ;  others  undergo  changes,  such  as 
weather  or  earthquakes  may  produce ;  but  in  none  of  them  can 
we  discover  such  changes  as  show  the  hand  of  man.  For  these 
islands,  it  would  seem  the  probability  of  inhabitants  is  further 
lessened.  And  so  long  as  we  have  no  better  materials  than 
these  for  forming  a  judgment,  it  would,  surely,  be  accounted 
rash,  to  assert  that  the  islands  in  general  are  inhabited ;  and 
unreasonable,  to  blame  those  who  deny  or  doubt  it.  Nor 
would  such  blame  be  justified  by  adducing  theological  or  d 
priori  arguments ;  as,  that  the  analogy  of  island  with  island 
makes  the  assumption  allowable  ;  or  that  it  is  inconsistent  with 
the  plan  of  the  Creator  of  islands  to  leave  them  uninhabited. 
For  we  know  that  many  islands  are,  or  were  long,  uninhabited. 
And  if  ours  wxre  an  island  occupied  by  a  numerous,  well-gov- 
erned, moral,  and  religious  race,  of  which  the  history  was 
known,  and  of  which  the  relation  to  the  Creator  was  connected 
with  its  history ;  the  assumption  of  a  history,  more  or  less 
similar  to  ours,  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  other  islands,  whose 
existence  was  utterly  unproved,  would,  probably,  be  generally 
deemed  a  fitter  field  for  the  romance- writer  than  for  the  phi- 
losopher. It  could  not,  at  best,  rise  above  the  region  of  vague 
conjectuie. 

27.  Fontenelle,  in    the    agreeable   book   just  referred    to, 


184  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

says,  very  truly,  that  the  formula  by  which  his  view  is  urged 
on  adversaries  is,  Pourquoi  non  ?  which  he  holds  to  be  a  pow- 
erful figure  of  logic.  It  is,  however,  a  figure  which  has  this 
peculiarity,  that  it  may,  in  most  cases,  be  used  with  equal  force 
on  either  side.  When  we  are  asked  Why  the  Moon,  Mercury, 
Saturn,  the  system  of  Sirius,  should  not  be  inhabited  by  intelli- 
gent beings ;  we  may  ask,  Why  the  earth  in  the  ages  previous 
to  man  might  not  be  so  inhabited  ?  The  answer  would  be,  that 
we  have  proof  how  it  was  inhabited.  And  as  to  the  fact  in 
the  other  case,  I  shall  shortly  attempt  to  give  proof  that  the 
Moon  is  certainly  not,  and  Mercury  and  Saturn  probably  not 
inhabited.  With  regard  to  the  Fixed  Stars,  it  is  more  difficult 
to  reason  ;  because  we  have  the  means  of  knowing  so  little  of 
their  structure.  But  in  this  case  also,  we  might  easily  ask  on 
our  side,  Pourquoi  non  ?  Why  should  not  the  Solar  System 
be  the  chief  and  most  complete  system  in  the  universe,  and  the 
Earth  the  principal  planet  in  that  System  1  So  far  as  we  yet 
know,  the  Sun  is  the  largest  Sun  among  the  stars ;  and  we 
shall  attempt  to  show,  that  the  Earth  is  the  largest  solid 
opaque  globe  in  the  solar  system.  Some  System  must  be  the 
largest  and  most  finished  of  all ;  why  not  ours  1  Some  planet 
must  be  the  largest  planet ;  why  not  the  Earth  1 

28.  It  should  be  recollected  that  there  must  be  some  system 
which  is  the  most  complete  of  all  systems,  some  planet  which  is 
the  largest  of  all  planets.  And  if  that  largest  planet,  in  the 
most  complete  system,  be,  after  being  for  ages  tenanted  by  ir- 
rational creatures,  at  last,  and  alone  of  all,  occupied  by  a  ra- 
tional race,  that  race  must  necessarily  have  the  power  of  ask- 
ing such  questions  as  these :  Why  they  should  be  alone  ra- 
tional %  Why  their  planet  should  be  alone  thus  favored  1  If 
the  case  be  ours,  we  may  hojje  to  be  then  able  to  answer  these 
questions,  when  we  can  explain  the  most  certain  fact  which  they 


THE    FIXED     STARS.  185 

involve ;  Why  the  Earth  was  occupied  so  long  by  irrational 
creatures,  before  the  rational  race  was  placed  upon  it  *?  The 
mere  power  of  asking  such  questions  can  prove  or  disaprove 
npthing ;  for  it  is  a  power  which  must  equally  subsist,  whether 
the  human  inhabitants  of  the  earth  be  or  be  not  the  only  ra- 
tional population  which  the  universe  contains.  If  there  be  a 
race  thus  favored  by  the  Creator,  they  must,  at  that  stage  of 
their  knowledge  in  which  man  now  is,  be  able  to  doubt,  as  man 
does,  of  the  extent  and  greatness  of  the  privilege  which  they 
enjoy. 

29.  The  argument  that  the  Fixed  Stars  are  like  the  Sun,  and 
therefore  the  centres  of  inhabited  systems  as  the  Sun  is,  is 
sometimes  called  an  argument  from  Analogy  ;  and  this  word 
Analogy  is  urged,  as  giving  great  force  to  the  reasoning. 
But  it  must  be  recollected,  that  precisely  the  point  in  question 
is,  whether  there  is  an  analogy.  The  stars,  it  is  said,  are  like 
the  Sun.  In  what  respects  1  We  know  of  none,  except  in 
being  self-luminous  ;  and  this  they  have  in  common  with  the 
nebulae,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  are  not  centres  of  inhabited 
systems.  Nor  does  this  quality  of  being  self-luminous  at  all 
determine  the  degree  of  condensation  of  a  star.  Sirius  m_ay 
be  less  than  a  hundredth  or  a  thousandth  of  the  density  of  the 
Sun.  But  the  Stars,  it  may  be  further  urged,  are  like  the  Sun 
in  turning  on  their  axes.  To  this  we  reply,  that  we  know  this 
only  of  those  stars  in  which,  the  very  phenomenon  which  proves 
their  revolution,  proves  also  that  they  are  unlike  the  Sun,  in 
having  one  side  darker  than  the  other.  Add  to  which,  their 
revolution  is  not  connected  with  the  existence  of  planets,  still 
less  of  inhabitants  of  planets,  in  any  intelligible  manner.  The 
resemblance,  therefore,  so  far  as  it  bears  upon  the  question,  is 
confined  to  one  single  point,  in  the  highest  degree  ambiguous 
and  inconclusive ;  and  any  argument  drawn  from  this  one 


186  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

point  of  resemblance,  has  little  claim  to  be  termed  an  argu- 
ment from  analogy.* 

30.  On  a  subject  on  which  we  know  so  little,  it  is  difficult 
to  present  any  view  which  deserves  to  be  regarded  as  an  a|^- 
alogy.  We  see,  among  the  stars,  nebulae  more  or  less  con- 
densed, which  are  possibly,  in  some  cases,  stages  of  a  connected 
progress  towards  a  definite  star  ;  and  it  may  be,  to  a  star  with 
planets  in  permanent  orbits.  We  see,  in  our  planet,  evidence 
of  successive  stages  of  a  connected  series  of  brute  animals, 
preceded  perhaps  by  various  stages  of  lifeless  chaos.  If  the 
histories  of  the  Sun,  and  of  all  the  stars,  are  governed  by  a 
common  analogy,  the  nebulous  condensation,  and  the  stages  of 
animal  life,  may  be  parts  of  the  same  continued  series  of  events  ; 
and  different  stars  may  be  at  different  points  of  that  series. 
But  even  on  this  supposition,  but  a  few  of  the  stars  may  be 
the  seats  of  conscious  life,  and  none,  of  intelligence.  For 
among  the  stars  which  have  condensed  to  a  permanent  form, 
how  many  have  failed  in  throwing  off  a  permanent  planet ! 
How  many  may  be  in  some  stage  of  lifeless  chaos !  We. must 
needs  suppose  a  vast  number  of  stages  between  a  nebular  chaos 
and  the  lowest  forms  of  conscious  life.  Perhaps  as  many 
as  there  are  fixed  stars  ;  and  far  more  than  there  are  of  stars 
which  become  fertile  of  life  :  so  that  no  two  systems  may  be 
at  the  same  stage  of  the  planetary  progress.  And  if  this  be 
so, — our  system  being  so  complicated,  that  we  must  suppose 

*  Humboldt,  very  justly,  regards  the  force  of  analogy  as  tending  in 
the  opposite  direction.  "  Aftei*  all,"  he  asks,  {Cosmos,  ni.  373,)  "  is  the 
assumption  of  satellites  to  the  Fixed  Stars  so  absolutely  neeessaiy  ? 
If  we  were  to  begin  from  the  outer  planets,  Jupiter,  &c.,  analogy 
might  seem  to  require  that  all  planets  have  satellites.  But  yet  this  is 
not  true  for  Mars,  Venus,  Mercury."  To  which  we  may  further  add  the 
twenty-three  Planetoids.  In  this  case  there  is  a  much  greater  number 
of  bodies  which  have  not  satellites,  than  which  have  them. 


THE     FIXED     STARS.  187 

it  peculiarly  developed,  having  the  largest  Sun  that  we  know 
of,  and  our  Earth  being  (as  we  shall  hereafter  attempt  to  prove) 
the  largest  solid  planet  that  we  know  of, — this  Earth  may  be 
the  sole  seat  of  the  highest  stage  of  planetary  development. 

31.  The  assumption  that  there  is  anything  of  the  nature  of 
a  regular  law  or  order  of  progress  from  nebular  matter  to  con- 
scious life, — a  law  which  extends  to  all  the  stars,  or  to  many 
of  them, — is  in  the  highest  degree  precarious  and  unsupported ; 
but  since  it  is  sometimes  employed  in  such  speculations  as  we 
are  pursuing,  we  may  make  a  remark  or  two  connected  with 
it.  If  we  suppose,  on  the  planets  of  other  systems,  a  progress 
in  some  degree  analogous  to  that  which  geology  shows  to  have 
occurred  on  the  Earth,  there  may  be,  in  those  planets,  creatures 
in  some  way  analogous  to  our  vegetables  and  animals  ;  but  an- 
alogy also  requires  that  they  should  differ  far  more  from  the 
terrestrial  vegetables  and  animals  of  any  epoch,  than  those  of 
one  epoch  do  from  those  of  another  ;  since  they  belong  to  a  dif^ 
ferent  stellar  system,  and  probably  exist  under  very  different 
conditions  from  any  that  ever  prevailed  on  the  Earth.  We  are 
forbidden,  therefore,  by  analogy,  to  suppose  that  on  any  other 
planet  there  was  such  an  anatomical  progression  towards  the 
form  of  man,  as  we  can  discern  (according  to  some  eminent  phys- 
iologists) among  the  tribes  which  have  occupied  the  Earth. 
Are  we  to  conceive  that  the  creatures  on  the  planets  of  other 
systems  are,  like  the  most  perfect  terrestrial  animals,  sym- 
metrical as  to  right  and  left,  vertebrate,  with  fore  limbs  and 
hind  limbs,  heads,  organs  of  sense  in  their  heads,  and  the  like  ? 
Every  one  can  see  how  rash  and  fanciful  it  would  be  to  make 
such  suppositions.  Those  who  have,  in  the  play  of  their  inven- 
tion, imagined  inhabitants  of  other  planets,  have  tried  to  avoid 
this  servile  imitation  of  terrestrial  forms.  Here  is  Sir  Hum- 
phry Davy's  account  of  the  inhabitants  of  Saturn.     "  I  saw 


188  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

moving  on  the  surface  below  me,  immense  masses,  the  forms 
of  which  I  find  it  impossible  to  describe.  They  had  systems 
for  locomotion  similar  to  that  of  the  morse  or  sea-horse,  but  I 
saw  with  great  surprise  that  they  moved  from  place  to  place 
by  six  extremely  thin  membranes,  which  they  used  as  wings. 
I  saw  numerous  convolutions  of  tubes,  more  analogous  to  the 
trunk  of  the  elephant,  than  to  anything  else  I  can  imagine, 
occupying  what  I  supposed  to  be  the  upper  parts  of  the  body."* 
The  attendant  Genius  informs  the  narrator,  that  though  these 
creatures  look  like  zoophytes,  they  have  a  sphere  of  sensibility 
and  intellectual  enjoyment  far  superior  to  that  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  Earth.  If  we  were  to  reason  upon  a  work  of  fancy 
like  this,  we  might  say,  that  it  was  just  as  easy  to  ascribe  su- 
perior sensibility  and  intelligence  to  zoophyte-formed  creatures 
upon  the  Earth,  as  in  Saturn.  Even  fancy  cannot  aid  us  in 
giving  consistent  form  to  the  inhabitants  of  other  planets. 

32,  But  even  if  we  could  assent  to  the  opinion,  as  probable, 
that  there  may  occur,  on  some  other  planet,  progressions  of 
organized  forms  analogous  in  some  way  to  that  series  of  ani- 
m.al  forms  which  has  appeared  upon  the  earth,  we  should  still 
have  no  ground  to  assume  that  this  series  must  terminate  in  a 
rational  and  intelligent  creature  like  man.  For  the  introduc- 
tion of  reason  and  intelligence  upon  the  Earth  is  no  part  nor 
consequence  of  the  series  of  animal  forms.  It  is  a  fact  of  an 
entirely  new  kind.  The  transition  from  brute  to  man  does  not 
come  within  the  analogy  of  the  transition  from  brute  to  brute. 
The  thread  of  analogy,  even  if  it  could  lead  us  so  far,  would 
break  here.  We  may  conceive  analogues  to  other  animals, 
but  we  could  have  no  analogue  to  man,  except  man.  Man  is 
not  merely  a  higher  kind  of  animal ;  he  is  a  creature  of  a  su- 
perior order,  participating  in  the  attributes  of  a  higher  nature  ; 
*  Consolations  in  Travel.     Dial.  1. 


THE     FIXED     STARS.  189 

* 

as  we  have  already  said,  and  as  we  hope  hereafter  further  to 
show.  Even,  therefore,  if  we  were  to  assume  the  general  an- 
alogy of  the  Stars  and  of  the  Sun,  and  were  to  join  to  that  the 
infori  lation  which  geology  gives  us  of  the  history  of  our  own 
planet ;  though  we  might,  on  this  precarious  path,  be  led  to 
think  cf  other  planets  as  peopled  with  unimagined  monsters  ; 
we  should  still  find  a  chasm  in  our  reasoning,  if  we  tried,  in 
this  way,  to  find  intelligent  and  rational  creatures  in  planets 
which  miay  revolve  round  Sirius  or  Arcturus. 

33.  The  reasonable  view  of  the  matter  appears  to  be  this. 
The  assumption  that  the  Fixed  Stars  are  of  exactly  the  same 
nature  as  the  Sun,  was,  at  the  first,  when  their  vast  distance 
and  probable  great  size  were  newly  ascertained,  a  bold  guess  ; 
to  be  confirmed  or  refuted  by  subsequent  observations  and 
discoveries.  Any  appearances,  tending  in  any  degree  to  con- 
firm this  guess,  would  have  deserved  the  most  considerate  at- 
tention. But  there  has  not  been  a  vestige  of  any  such  con- 
firmatory fact.  No  planet,  nor  anything  which  can  fairly  be 
regarded  as  indicating  the  existence  of  a  planet,  revolving 
about  a  star,  has  anywhere  been  discerned.  The  discovery  of 
nebulae,  of  binary  systems,  of  clusters  of  stars,  of  periodical 
stars,  of  varying  and  accelerated  periods  of  such  stars,  all 
seem  to  point  the  other  way.  And  if  all  these  facts  be  held 
to  be  but  small  in  amount,  as  to  the  information  which  they 
convey,  about  the  larger,  and  perhaps  nearer  stars ;  still  they 
leave  the  original  assumption  a  mere  guess,  unsupported  by 
all  that  three  centuries  of  most  diligent,  and  in  other  respects 
successful  research,  has  been  able  to  bring  to  light.  That 
Copernicus,  that  Galileo,  that  Kepler,  should  believe  the  stars 
to  be  Suns,  in  every  sense  of  the  term,  was  a  natural  result 
of  the  expansion  of  thought  which  their  great  discoveries  pro- 
duced, in  them  and  in  their  contemporaries.     Nor  are  we  yet 


I 


190  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

called  upon  to  withdraw  from  them  our  sympathy  ;  or  entitled 
to  contradict  their  conjecture.  But  all  the  knowledge  that  the 
succeeding  times  have  given  us  ;  the  extreme  tenuity  of  much 
of  the  luminous  matter  in  the  skies  ;  the  existence  of  gyratory 
motion  among  the  stars,  quite  different  from  planetary  sys- 
tems ;  the  absence  of  any  observed  motions  at  all  resembling 
such  systems ;  the  appearance  of  changes  in  stars,  quite  incon- 
sistent with  such  permanent  systems ;  the  disclosure  of  the 
history  of  our  o^vn  planet,  as  one  in  which  changes  have  con 
stantly  been  going  on  ;  the  certainty  that  by  far  the  greatei 
part  of  the  duration  of  its  existence,  it  has  been  tenanted  hy 
creatures  entirely  different  from  those  which  give  an  interest, 
and  thence,  a  persuasiveness,  to  the  belief  of  inhabitants  in 
worlds  appended  to  each  star;  the  impossibility,  which  ap- 
pears, on  the  gravest  consideration,  of  transferring  to  other 
worlds  such  interests  as  belong  to  our  own  race  in  this  world ; 
all  these  considerations  should,  it  would  seem,  have  prevented 
that  old  and  arbitrary  conjecture  from  growing  up,  among  a 
generation  professing  philosophical  caution,  and  scientific  dis- 
cipline, into  a  settled  belief 

34.  Some  of  the  moral  and  theological  views  which  -tend  to 
encourage  and  uphold  this  belief,  may  be  taken  under  our 
more  special  consideration  hereafter :  but  here,  where  we  are 
reasoning  principally  upon  astronomical  grounds,  we  may  con- 
clude what  we  have  to  remark  about  the  Fixed  Stars,  as  the 
centres  of  inhabited  systems  of  worlds,  by  saying  ;  that  it  will 
be  time  enough  to  speculate  about  the  inhabitants  of  the  planets 
which  belong  to  such  systems,  when  we  have  ascertained  that 
there  are  such  planets,  or  one  such  planet.  When  that  is  done, 
we  can  then  apply  to  them  any  reasons  which  may  exist,  for 
believing  that  all,  or  many  ^^lanets,  are  the  seats  of  habitation 
of  living  things.     What  reasons  of  this  kind  can  be  adduced, 


THE     FIXED     STARS.  191 

and  what  is  their  force  with  regard  to  our  own  solar  system, 
we  must  now  proceed  to  discuss.* 

*  What  IS  said  in  Art.  15,  that  in  consequence  of  the  time  employed 
in  the  transmission  of  visual  impressions,  our  seeing  a  star  is  evidence, 
not  that  it  exists  now,  but  that  it  existed,  it  may  be,  many  thousands 
of  years  ago  ;  may  seem,  to  some  readers,  to  throw  doubts  upon  rea- 
sonings which  we  have  employed.  It  may  be  said  that  a  star  which 
was  a  mere  chaos,  when  the  light,  by  which  we  see  it,  set  out  from  it, 
may,  in  the  thousands  of  years  which  have  since  elapsed,  have  grovv  n 
into  an  orderly  world.  To  which  bare  possibility,  we  may  oppose 
another  supposition  at  least  eqiially  possible: — that  the  distant  stars 
were  sparks  or  fragments  struck  off  in  the  formation  of  the  Solar  Sys- 
tem, which  are  really  long  since  extinct ;  and  survive  in  appearance, 
only  by  the  light  which  they  at  first  emitted. 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

THE  PLANETS. 

1.  When  it  was  discovered,  by  Copernicus  and  Galileo,  that 
Mercury,  Venus,  Mars,  Jupiter,  Saturn,  which  had  hitherto 
been  regarded  only  as  "  wandering  fires,  that  move  in  mystic 
dance,"  were  really,  in  many  circumstances,  bodies  resem- 
bling the  Earth ; — that  they  and  the  Earth  alike,  were  opaque 
globes,  revolving  about  the  Sun  in  orbits  nearly  circular,  re- 
volving also  about  their  own  axes,  and  some  of  them  accom 
panied  by  their  Satellites,  as  the  Earth  is  by  the  Moon  ; — it 
was  inevitable  that  the  conjecture  should  arise,  that  they  too 
had  inhabitants,  as  the  Earth  has.  Each  of  these  bodies  were 
seemingly  coherent  and  solid  ;  furnished  with  an  arrangement 
for  producing  day  and  night,  summer  and  winter ;  and  might 
therefore,  it  was  naturally  conceived,  have  inhabitants  moving 
upon  its  solid  surface,  and  reckoning  their  lives  and  their 
employment  by  days,  and  months,  and  years.  This  was  an 
unavoidable  guess.  It  was  far  less  bold  and  sweeping  than 
the  guess  that  there  are  inhabitants  in  the  region  of  the  Eixed 
Stars,  but  still,  like  that,  it  was,  for  the  time  at  least,  only  a 
guess  ;  and  like  that,  it  must  depend  upon  future  explorations 
of  these  bodies  and  their  conditions,  whether  the  guess  was 
confirmed  or  discredited.      The  conjecture  could  not,  by  any 


THE     PLANETS.  193 

moderately  cautious  man,  be  regarded  as  so  overwhelmingly- 
probable,  that  it  had  no  need  of  further  proof.  Its  final  ac- 
ceptance or  rejection  must  depend  on  the  subsequent  progress 
of  astronomy,  and  of  science  in  general. 

2.  We  have  to  consider  then  how  far  subsequent  discoveries 
have  given  additional  value  to  this  conjecture.  And,  as,  in 
the  first  place,  important  among  such  discoveries,  we  must 
note  the  addition  of  several  new  planets  to  our  system.  It 
was  found,  by  the  elder  Herschel,  (in  1781,)  that,  far  beyond 
Saturn,  there  was  another  planet,  which,  for  a  time,  was  called 
by  the  name  of  its  sagacious  discoverer ;  but  more  recently, 
in  order  to  conform  the  nomenclature  of  the  planets  to  the 
mythology  with  which  they  had  been  so  long  connected,  has 
been  termed  Uranus.  This  was  a  vast  extension  of  the  limits 
of  the  solar  system.  The  Earth  is,  as  we  have  already  said, 
nearly  a  hundred  millions  of  miles  from  the  Sun.  Jupiter  is 
at  more  than  five  times,  and  Saturn  nearly  at  ten  times  this 
distance  :  but  Uranus,  it  was  found,  describes  an  orbit  of  which 
the  radius  is  about  nineteen  times  as  great  as  that  of  the 
Earth.  But  this  did  not  terminate  the  extension  of  the  solar 
system  which  the  progress  of  astronomy  revealed.  In  1846, 
a  new  planet,  still  more  remote,  was  discovered  :  its  existence 
having  been  divined,  before  it  was  seen,  by  two  mathe- 
maticians, Mr.  Adams,  of  Cambridge,  and  M.  Leverrier,  of 
Paris,  from  the  effects  of  its  force  upon  Uranus.  This  new 
planet  was  termed  Neptune :  its  distance  from  the  Sun  is  about 
thirty  times  the  Earth's  distance.  Besides  these  discoveries 
of  large  planets,  a  great  number  of  small  planets  were  de- 
tected in  the  region  of  the  solar  system  which  lies  between 
the  orbits  of  Mars  and  Jupiter.  This  series  of  discoveries  be- 
gan on  the  first  day  of  1801,  when  Ceres  was  detected  by 
Piazzi  at  Palermo  ;  and  has  gone  on  up  to  the  presen"-  time, 

9 


194  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

when  twenty-three  of  these  small  bodies  have  been  brought  to 
light ;  and  probably  the  group  is  not  yet  exhausted. 

3.  Now  if  we  have  to  discuss  the  probability  that  all  these 
bodies  are  inhabited,  we  may  begin  with  the  outermost  of 
them  at  present  known,  namely  Neptune.  How  far  is  it 
likely  that  this  globe  is  occupied  by  living  creatures  which  en- 
joy, like  the  creatures  on  the  Earth,  the  light  and  heat  of  the 
Sun,  about  which  the  planet  revolves?  It  is  plain,  in  the 
first  place,  that  this  light  and  heat  must  be  very  feeble.  Since 
Neptune  is  thirty  times  as  far  from  the  sun  as  the  earth  is,  the 
diameter  of  the  sun  as  seen  from  Neptune  will  only  be  one- 
thirteenth  as  large  as  it  is,  seen  from  the  earth.  It  will,  in 
fact,  be  reduced  to  a  mere  star.  It  will  be  about  the  dia- 
meter under  which  Jupiter  appears  when  he  is  nearest  to  us. 
Of  course  its  brightness  will  be  much  greater  than  that  of 
Jupiter ;  nearly  as  much  indeed,  as  the  sun  is  brighter  than 
the  moon,  both  being  nearly  of  the  same  size  :  but  still,  with 
our  full-moonlight  reduced  to  the  amount  of  illumination  which 
we  receive  from  Sifiill  Jupiter^  and  our  sun-light  reduced  in 
nearly  the  same  proportion,  we  should  have  but  a  dark,  and 
also  a  cold  world.  In  fact,  the  light  and  the  heat  which  reach 
Neptune,  so  far  as  they  depend  on  the  distance  of  the  sun,  will 
each  be  about  nine  hundred  times  smaller  than  they  are  on 
the  earth.  Now  are  we  to  conceive  animals,  with  their  vital 
powers  unfolded,  and  their  vital  enjoyments  cherished,  by  this 
amount  of  light  and  heat  %  Of  course,  we  cannot  say,  with 
certainty,  that  any  feebleness  of  light  and  heat  are  inconsist- 
ent with  the  existence  of  animal  life  :  and  if  we  had  good  rea- 
son to  believe  that  Neptune  is  inhabited  by  animals,  we  might 
try  to  conceive  in  what  manner  their  vital  scheme  is  accom- 
modated to  this  scanty  supply  of  heat  and  light.  If  it  were 
certain  that  they  were  there,  wc  might  inquire  how  they  could 


THE     PLANETS.  195 

live  there,  and  what  manner  of  creatures  they  could  be.  If 
there  were  any  general  grounds  for  assuming  inhabitants, 
we  might  consider  what  modifications  of  life  their  particular 
conditions  would  require. 

4.  But  is  there  any  such  general  ground !  Such  a  ground 
we  should  have,  if  we  could  venture  to  assume  that  all  the 
bodies  of  the  Solar  System  are  inhabited ; — if  we  could  pro- 
ceed upon  such  a  principle,  we  might  reject  or  postpone  the 
difficulties  of  particular  cases. 

5.  But  is  such  an  assumption  true  %  Is  such  a  principle 
well  founded  ?  The  best  chance  which  we  have  of  learning 
whether  it  is  so,  is  to  endeavor  to  ascertain  the  fact,  in  the 
body  which  is  nearest  to  us  ;  and  thus,  the  best  placed  for 
our  closer  scrutiny.  This  is,  of  course,  the  Moon  ;  and  with 
regard  to  the  Moon,  we  have,  again,  this  advantage  in  begin- 
ning the  inquiry  with  her : — that  she,  at  least,  is  in  circum- 
stances, as  to  light  and  heat,  so  far  as  the  Sun's  distance  affects 
them,  which  we  know  to  be  quite  consistent  with  animal  and 
vegetable  life.  For  her  distance  from  the  Sun  is  not  appreci- 
ably different  from  that  of  the  Earth ;  her  revolutions  round 
the  earth  do  not  make  nearly  so  great  a  difference,  in  her  dis- 
tance from  the  sun,  as  does  the  earth's  different  distances  from 
the  sun  in  summer  and  in  Vv^inter  :  the  fact  also  being,  that  the 
earth  is  considerably  nearer  to  the  sun  in  the  winter  of  this 
our  northern  hemisphere,  than  in  the  summer.  The  moon's 
distance  from  the  sun  then,  adapts  her  for  habitation :  is  she 
inhabited  % 

6.  The  answer  to  this  question,  so  far  as  we  can  answer  it, 
may  involve  something  more  than  those  mere  astronomical 
conditions,  her  distance  from  the  sun,  and  the  nature  of  her 
motions.  But  still,  if  we  are  compelled  to  answer  it  in  the 
negative  ; — if  it  appear,  by  strong  evidence,  that  the  Moon  is 


196  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

not  inhabited ;  then  is  there  an  end  of  the  general  principle, 
that,  all  the  bodies  of  the  solar  system  are  inhabited,  and  that 
we  must  begin  our  speculations  about  each,  with  this  assump- 
tion. If  the  Moon  be  not  inhabited,  then,  it  would  seem,  the 
belief  that  each  special  body  in  the  system  is  inhabited,  must 
depend  upon  reasons  specially  belonging  to  that  body ;  and 
cannot  be  taken  for  granted  without  such  reasons.  Of  the 
two  bodies  of  the  solar  system  which  alone  we  can  examine 
closely,  so  as  to  know  anything  about  them,  the  Earth  and  the 
Moon,  if  the  one  be  inhabited,  and  the  other  blank  of  inhabi- 
tants, we  have  no  right  to  assume  at  once,  that  any  other  body 
in  the  solar  system  belongs  to  the  former  of  these  classes 
rather  than  to  the  latter.  If,  even  under  terrestrial  conditions 
of  light  and  heat,  we  have  a  total  absence  of  the  phenomenon 
of  life,  known  to  us  only  as  a  terrestrial  phenomenon ;  we  are 
surely  not  entitled  to  assume  that  when  these  conditions  jEliil, 
we  have  still  the  phenomenon,  life.  We  are  not  entitled  to 
assume  it ;  however  it  may  be  capable  of  being  afterwards 
proved,  in  any  special  case,  by  special  reasons ;  a  question 
afterwards  to  be  discussed. 

7.  Is,  then,  the  Moon  inhabited  ?  From  the  moon's  prox- 
imity to  us,  (she  is  distant  only  thirty  diameters  of  the  earth, 
less  than  ten  times  the  earth's  circumference  ;  a  railroad  car- 
riage, at  its  ordinary  rate  of  travelling,  would  reach  her  in  a 
month,)  she  can  be  examined  by  the  astronomer  with  peculiar 
advantages.  The  present  powers  of  the  telescope  enable  him 
to  examine  her  mountains  as  distinctly  as  he  could  the  Alps 
at  a  few  hundred  miles  distance,  with  the  naked  eye  ;  with  the 
additional  ad^'antage  that  her  mountains  are  much  more  bril- 
liantly illuminated  by  the  Sun,  and  much  more  favorably 
placed  for  examiiiation,  than  the  Alps  are.  He  can  map  and 
model  the  Inequalities  of  her  surface,  as  faithfully  and  exactly 


THE     PLANETS.  197 

as  he  can  those  of  the  surface  of  Switzerland.  He  can  trace 
the  streams  that  seem  to  have  flowed  from  eruptive  orifices 
over  her  plains,  as  he  can  the  streams  of  lava  from  the  craters 
of  Etna  or  Hecla. 

8.  Now,  this  minute  examination  of  the  Moon's  surface 
being  possible,  and  having  been  made,  by  many  careful  and 
skilful  astronomers,  what  is  the  conviction  which  has  been 
conveyed  to  their  minds,  with  regard  to  the  fact  of  her  being 
the  seat  of  vegetable  or  animal  life  ?  Without  exception,  it 
would  seem,  they  have  all  been  led  to  the  belief,  that  the  Moon 
is  not  inhabited ;  that  she  is,  so  far  as  life  and  organization 
are  concerned,  waste  and  barren,  like  the  streams  of  lava  or  of 
volcanic  ashes  on  the  earth,  before  any  vestige  of  vegetation 
has  been  impressed  upon  them  :  or  like  the  sands  of  Africa, 
where  no  blade  of  grass  finds  root.  It  is  held,  by  such  ob- 
servers, that  they  can  discern  and  examine  portions  of  the 
moon's  surface  as  small  as  a  square  mile  ;*  yet,  in  their 
examination,  they  have  never  perceived  any  alteration,  such 
as  the  cycle  of  vegetable  changes  through  the  revolutions  of 
seasons  would  produce.  Sir  William  Herschel  did  not  doubt 
that  if  a  change  had  taken  place  on  the  visible  part  of  the  .Moon, 
as  great  as  the  growth  or  the  destruction  of  a  great  city,  as 
great,  for  instance,  as  the  destruction  of  London  by  the  great 
fire  of  1666,  it  would  have  been  perceptible  to  his  powers  of 
observation.  Yet  nothing  of  the  kind  has  ever  been  observed. 
If  there  were  lunar  astronomers,  as  v/eli  provided  as  terrestrial 
ones  are,  with  artificial  helps  of  vision,  they  would  undoubt- 
edly be  able  to  perceive  the  differences  which  the  progress  of 

*  More  recently,  at  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in  Sep- 
tember, 1853,  Professor  Phillips  has  declared,  that  astronomers  can 
discern  the  shape  of  a  spot  on  the  Moon's  surface,  which  is  a  few  hun- 
dred feet  in  breadth. 


198  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

generations  brings  about  on  the  surface  of  oar  globe ;  the 
clearing  of  the  forests  of  Germany  or  North  America ;  the 
embankment  of  Holland  ;  the  change  of  the  modes  of  culture 
which  alter  the  color  of  the  ground  in  Europe  ;  the  establish- 
ment of  great  nests  of  manufactures  which  shroud  portions  of 
the  land  in  smoke,  as  those  which  have  their  centres  at  Bir- 
mingham or  at  Manchester.  However  obscurely  they  might 
discern  the  nature  of  those  changes,  they  would  still  see  that 
change  was  going  on.  And  so  should  we,  if  the  like  changes 
were  going  on  upon  the  face  of  the  Moon.  Yet  no  such 
changes  have  ever  been  noticed.  Nor  even  have  such  changes 
been  remarked,  as  might  occur  in  a  mere  brute  mass  without 
life  ; — the  formation  of  new  streams  of  lava,  new  craters,  new 
crevices,  new  elevations.  The  Moon  exhibits  strong  evidences, 
which  strike  all  telesco^^ic  observers,  of  an  action  resembling, 
in  many  respects,  volcanic  action,  by  which  its  present  surface 
has  been  formed.*  But,  if  it  have  been  produced  by  such  in- 
ternal fires,  the  fires  seem  to  be  extinguished ;  the  volcanoes 
to  be  burned  out.  It  is  a  mere  cinder  ;  a  collection  of  sheets 
of  rigid  slag,  and  inactive  craters.  And  if  the  Moon  and  the 
Earth  were  both,  at  first  in  a  condition  in  which  igneous  erup- 
tions from  their  interior  produced  the  ridges  and  cones  which 
roughen  their  surfaces  ;  the  Earth  has  had  this  state  succeeded 
by  a  series  of  states  of  life  in  innumerable  forms,  till  at  last  it 
has  become  the  dwelling-place  of  man ;  while  the  Moon, 
smaller  in  dimensions,  has  at  an  earlier  period  completely 
cooled  down,  as  to  its  exterior  at  least,  without  ever  being 
judged  fit  or  worthy  by  its  Creator  of  being  the  seat  of  life; 
and  remains,  hung  in  the  sky,  as  an  object  on  which  man  may 

*  A  person  visiting  the  Eifel,  a  region  of  extinct  volcanoes,  west  of 
the  Ehine,  can  hardly  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  resemblance  of  the 
craters  tliere,  to  those  seen  in  the  moon  through  a  telescope. 


THE     PLANETS.  199 

gaze,  and  perhaps,  from  which  he  may  learn  something  of  the 
constitution  of  the  universe ;  and  among  other  lessons  this ; 
that  he  must  not  take  for  granted,  that  all  the  other  globes  of 
the  solar  system  are  tenanted,  like  that  on  which  he  has  his 
appointed  place. 

9.  It  is  true,  that  in  coming  to  this  conclusion,  the  astron- 
omers of  whom  I  speak,  have  been  governed  by  other  reasons, 
besides  those  which  I  have  mentioned,  the  absence  of  any 
changes,  either  rapid  or  slow,  discoverable  in  the  Moon's  face. 
They  have  seen  reason  to  believe  that  water  and  air,  elements 
so  essential  to  terrestrial  life,  do  not  exist  in  the  Moon.  The 
dark  spaces  on  her  disk,  which  were  called  seas  by  those  who 
first  depicted  them,  have  an  appearance  inconsistent  with  their 
being  oceans  of  water.  They  are  not  level  and  smooth,  as 
water  would  be  ;  nor  uniform  in  their  color,  but  marked  with 
permanent  streaks  and  shades,  implying  a  rigid  form.  And 
the  absence  of  an  atmosphere  of  transparent  vapor  and  air,  sur- 
rounding the  moon,  as  our  atmosphere  surrounds  the  earth,  is 
still  more  clearly  proved,  by  the  absence  of  all  the  optical 
effects  of  such  an  atmosphere,  when  stars  pass  behind  the 
moon's  disk,  and  by  the  phenomena  which  are  seen  in  solar 
eclipses,  when  her  solid  mass  is  masked  by  the  Sun.*  This 
absence  of  moisture  and  air  in  the  Moon,  of  course,  entirely 
confirms  our  previous  conclusion,  of  the  absence  of  vegetable 
and  animal  life ;  and  leaves  us,  as  we  have  said,  to  examine 
the  question  for  the  other  bodies,  on  their  special  grounds, 
without  any  previous  presumption  that  such  life  exists.     Un 

*  Bessel  has  discussed  and  refuted  (it  was  hardly  necessary)  the  con 
jeetiire  of  some  persons  (he  describes  them  as  "  the  feeling  hearts  who 
would  find  sympathy  even  in  the  Moon")  that  there  may  be  in  the 
Moon's  valleys  air  enough  to  support  life,  though  it  does  not  rise  above 
the  hills. — Populdre  Vorlesungen,  p.  '78. 


200  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

doubtedly  the  aspect  of  the  case  will  be  different  in  one  fea- 
ture, when  we  see  reason  to  believe  that  other  bodies  have  an 
atmosphere  ;  and  if  there  be  m  any  planet  sufficient  light  and 
heat,  and  clouds  and  winds,  and  a  due  adjustment  of  the  power 
of  gravity,  and  the  strength  of  the  materials  of  which  organ- 
ized frames  consist,  there  may  be,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  life 
of  some  kind  or  other.  But  yet,  even  in  those  cases,  we  should 
be  led  to  judge  also,  by  analogy,  that  the  life  which  they  sus- 
tain is  more  different  from  the  terrestrial  life  of  the  present 
period  of  the  earth,  than  that  is  from  the  terrestrial  life  of  any 
former  geological  period,  in  proportion  as  the  conditions  of 
light  and  heat,  and  attraction  and  density,  are  more  different 
on  any  other  planet,  than  they  can  have  been  on  the  earth,  at 
any  period  of  its  history. 

10.  Let  us  then  consider  the  state  of  these  elements  of  being 
in  the  other  planets.  I  have  mentioned,  among  them,  the 
force  of  gravity,  and  the  density  of  materials  ;  because  these 
are  important  elements  in  the  question.  It  may  seem  strange, 
that  we  are  able,  not  only  to  measure  the  planets,  but  to  weigh 
them  ;  yet  so  it  is.  The  wonderful  discovery  of  universal 
gravitation,  so  firmly  established,  as  the  law  which  embraces 
every  particle  of  matter  in  the  solar  system,  enables  us  to  do 
this,  with  the  most  perfect  confidence.  The  revolutions  of  the 
satellites  round  their  primary  planets,  give  us  a  measure  of 
the  force  by  which  the  planets  retain  them  in  their  orbits  ;  and 
in  this  way,  a  measure  of  the  quantity  of  matter  of  which  each 
planet  consists.  And  other  effects  of  the  same  universal  law, 
enable  us  to  measure,  though  less  easily  and  less  exactly,  the 
masses,  even  of  those  planets  which  have  no  satellites.  And 
thus  we  can,  as  it  were,  put  the  Earth,  and  Jupiter  or  Saturn, 
in  the  balance  against  each  other ;  and  tell  the  proportionate 
number  of  pounds  which  they  would  weigh,  if  so  poised.     And 


THE     PLANETS.  201 

again,  by  another  kind  of  experiment,  we  can,  as  we  have"  said, 
weigh  the  earth  against  a  known  mountain  ;  or  even  against  a 
small  sphere  of  lead  duly  adjusted  for  the  purpose.  And  this 
has  been  done ;  and  the  results  are  extremely  curious ;  and 
very  important  in  our  speculations  relative  to  the  constitution 
of  the  universe. 

11.  And  in  the  first  place,  we  may  remark  that  the  Earth  is 
really  much  less  heavy  than  we  should  expect,  from  what  we 
know  of  the  materials  of  which  it  consists.  For,  measuring 
the  density,  or  specific  gravity,  of  materials,  (that  is  their  com- 
parative weight  in  the  same  bulk,)  by  their  proportion  to  water, 
which  is  the  usual  way,  the  density  of  iron  is  8,  that  of  lead 
11,  that  of  gold  19 :  the  ordinary  rocks  at  the  Earth's  surface 
have  a  density  of  3  or  4.  Moreover,  all  the  substances  with 
which  we  are  acquainted,  contract  into  a  smaller  space,  and 
have  "their  density  increased,  by  being  subjected  to  pressure. 
x\ir  does  this,  in  an  obvious  manner ;  and  hence  it  is,  that  the 
lower  parts  of  our  atmosphere  are  denser  than  the  upper  parts  ; 
being  pressed  by  a  greater  superincumbent  weight,  the  weight 
of  the  superior  parts  of  the  atmosphere  itself.  Air  is  thus  ob- 
viously and  eminently  elastic.  But  all  substances,  though  less 
obviously  and  eminently,  are  still,  really,  and  in  some  degree, 
elastic.  They  all  contract  by  compression.  Water  for  in. 
stance,  if  pressed  by  a  column  of  water  100000  feet  high, 
would  be  reduced  to  a  bulk  one-tenth  less  than  before.  In  the 
same  manner  iron,  compressed  by  a  column  of  iron  90000  feet 
high,  loses  one-tenth  of  its  bulk,  and  of  course  gains  so  much 
in  density.  And  the  like  takes  place,  in  different  amounts, 
with  all  material  whatever.  This  is  the  rate  at  which  com- 
pression produces  its  eff*ect  of  increasing  the  density,  in  bodies 
which  are  in  the  condition  of  those  which  lie  around  us.  But 
if  this  law  were  tc  go  on  at  the  same  rate,  when  the  compress- 

9* 


202  THE     PLURALITY     OF    "WORLDS. 

ion  is  greatly  increased,  the  density  of  bodies  derp  down  to- 
wards the  centre  of  the  Earth  must  be  immense.  The  Earth's 
radius  is  above  20  million  feet.  At  a  million  feet  depth  we 
should  have  matter  subjected  to  the  pressure  of  a  column  of  a 
million  feet  of  superincumbent  matter,  heavier  than  water ; 
and  hence  we  should  have  a  compression  of  water  10  times  as 
great  as  we  have  mentioned  ;  and,  therefore,  the  bulk  of  the 
water  would  be  reduced  almost  to  nothing,  its  density  increased 
almost  indefinitely  :  and  the  same  would  be  the  case  with  other 
materials,  as  metals  and  stones.  If,  therefore,  this  law  of  com- 
pression were  to  hold  for  these  great  pressures,  all  materials 
whatever,  contained  in  the  depths  of  the  Earth's  mass,  must 
be  immensely  denser,  and  immensely  specifically  heavier,  than 
they  are  at  the  surface.  And  thus,  the  Earth  consisting  of 
these  far  denser  materials  towards  the  centre,  but,  nearer  the 
surface,  of  lighter  materials,  such  as  rock,  and  metals,  in  their 
ordinary  state,  must,  we  should  expect,  be,  on  the  whole,  much 
heavier  than  if  it  consisted  of  the  heaviest  ordinary  materials  ; 
heavier  than  iron,  or  .than  lead ;  hundreds  of  times  perhaps 
heavier  than  stone. 

12.  This,  however,  is  not  found  to  be  so.  The  expectation 
of  the  great  density  of  the  Earth,  which  we  might  have  derived 
from  the  known  laws  of  condensation  of  terrestrial  substances, 
is  not  confirmed.  The  mass  of  the  Earth  being  weighed,  by 
means  of  such  processes  as  we  have  already  referred  to,  is 
found  to  be  only  five  times  heavier  than  so  much  water  :  less 
heavy  than  if  it  were  made  of  iron :  less  than  twice  as  heavy 
as  if  it  were  made  of  ordinary  rock.  This,  of  course,  shows 
us  that  the  condensation  of  the  interior  parts  of  the  Earth's 
mass,  is  by  no  means  so  great  as  we  should  have  expected  it 
to  be,  from  what  we  know  of  the  laws  of  condensation  here ; 
and  from  considering  the  enormous  pressure  of  superincum 


THE     PLANETS.  203 

bent  materials  to  which  those  interior  parts  are  subjected.  The 
laws  of  condensation,  it  would  seem,  do  not  go  on  operating  for 
these  enormous  pressures,  by  the  same  progression  as  for 
smaller  pressure.  If  a  mass  of  a  material  is  compressed  into 
nine-tenths  its  bulk  hy  the  weight  of  a  column  of  100000  feet 
high,  it  does  not  follow  that  it  will  be  again  compressed  into 
nine-tenths  of  its  condensed  bulk,  by  another  column  of  100000 
feet  high.  The  compression  and  condensation  reach,  or  tend 
to,  a  limit ;  and  probably,  before  they  have  gone  very  far.  It 
may  be  possible  to  compress  a  piece  of  iron  by  one-thousandth 
part,  even  by  such  forces  as  we  can  use ;  and  yet  it  may  not 
be  possible  to  compress  the  same  piece  of  iron  into  one  half 
its  bulk,  even  by  the  weight  of  the  whole  Earth,  if  made  to 
bear  upon  it.  This  appears  to  be  probable  :  and  this  will  ex- 
plain, how  it  is,  that  the  materials  of  the  Earth  are  not  so  vio- 
lently condensed  as  we  should  have  supposed ;  and  thus,  why 
the  Earth  is  so  light. 

13.  We  must  avoid  drawing  inferences  too  boldly,  on  a  sub- 
ject where  our  means  of  knowledge  are  so  obscure  as  they  are 
with  regard  to  the  interior  of  the  Earth  ;  but  yet,  perhaps,  we 
may  be  allowed  to  say,  that  the  result  which  we  have  just 
stated,  that  the  Earth  is  so  light,  suggests  to  us  the  belief  that 
the  interior  consists  of  the  same  materials  as  the  exterior, 
slightly  condensed  by  pressure.'*  We  find  no  encouragement 
to  believe  that  there  is  a  nucleus  within,  of  some  material,  dif- 
ferent from  what  we  have  on  the  outside ;  some  metal,  for  in- 
stance, heavier  than  lead.     If  the  earth  were^  of  granite,  or  of 

*  The  doctrine  that  the  interior  nucleus  of  the  Earth  is  fluid, 
whether  accepted  or  rejected,  does  not  materially  affect  this  argument. 
It  appeavs,  that  in  some  eases,  at  least,  the  melting  of  substances  is 
prevented,  by  their  being  subjected  to  extreme  pressure  ;  but  the  den- 
sity, the  element  from  which  we  reason,  is  measured  by  methods  quite 
independent  of  such  questions. 


204  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

lava,  to  the  centre,  it  would,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  have  much 
the  same  weight  which  it  now  has.  Such  a  central  mass,  cov- 
ered with  the  various  layers  of  stone,  which  form  the  upper 
crust  of  the  Earth,  would  naturally  make  this  globe  of  at  least 
the  weight  which  it  really  has.  And  therefore,  if  we  were  to 
learn  that  a  planet  was  much  lighter  than  this,  as  to  its  mate- 
rials,— much  less  dense,  taking  the  whole  mass  together, — we 
should  be  compelled  to  infer  that  it  was,  throughout,  or  nearly 
so,  formed  of  less  compact  matter  than  metal  and  stone ;  or 
else,  that  it  had  internal  cavities,  or  some  other  complex  struc- 
ture, which  it  would  be  absurd  to  assume,  without  positive 
reasons. 

14.  Now  having  decided  these  views  from  an  examination 
of  the  Earth,  let  us  apply  them  to  other  planets,  as  bearing 
upon  the  question  of  their  being  inhabited ;  and  in  the  first 
place,  to  Jupiter.  We  can,  as  we  have  said,  easily  compare 
the  mass  of  Jupiter  and  of  the  Earth ;  for  both  of  them  have 
Satellites.  It  is  ascertained,  by  this  means,  that  the  mass  of 
weight  of  Jupiter  is  about  333  times  the  weight  of  the  earth ; 
but  as  his  diameter  is  also  11  times  that  of  the  earth,  his  bulk 
is  1331  times  that  of  the  earth:  (the  cube  of  11  is  1331);  and, 
therefore,  the  density  of  Jupiter  is  to  that  of  the  earth,  only 
as  333  to  1331,  or  about  1  to  4.  Thus  the  density  of  Jupiter, 
taken  as  a  whole,  is  about  a  quarter  of  the  earth's  density ; 
less  than  that  of  any  of  the  stones  which  form  the  crust  of  the 
earth ;  and  not  much  greater  than  the  density  of  water.  In- 
deed, it  is  tolerably  certain,  that  the  density  of  Jupiter  is  not 
greater  than  it  would  be,  if  his  entire  globe  were  composed  of 
water  ;  making  allowance  for  the  compression  which  the  inte- 
rior parts  would  suffer  by  the  pressure  of  those  parts  superin- 
cumbent. We  might,  therefore,  offer  it  as  a  conjecture  not 
quite  arbitrary,  that  Jupiter  is  a  mere  sphere  of  water. 


THE     PLANETS.  205 

15.  But  is  there  anything  further  in  the  appearance  of 
Jupiter,  which  may  serve  to  contradict,  or  to  confirm,  this  con- 
jecture 1  There  is  one  circumstance  in  Jupiter's  form,  which 
is,  to  say  the  least,  perfectly  consistent  with  the  supposition, 
that  he  is  a  fluid  mass  ;  namely,  that  he  is  not  an  exact  sphere, 
but  oblate,  like  an  orange.  Such  a  form  is  produced,  in  a 
fluid  sphere,  by  a  rotation  upon  its  axis.  It  is  produced,  even 
in  a  sphere  which  is  (at  present  at  least,)  partly  solid  and 
partly  fluid ;  and  the  oblateness  of  the  earth  is  accounted  for 
in  this  way.  But  Jupiter,  who,  while  he  is  much  larger  than 
the  earth,  revolves  much  more  rapidly,  is  much  more  oblate 
than  the  earth.  His  polar  and  equatorial  diameters  are  in  the 
proportion  of  13  to  14.  Now  it  is  a  remarkable  circumstance, 
that  this  is  the  amount  of  oblateness,  which,  on  mechanical 
principles,  would  result  from  his  time  of  revolution,  if  he  were 
entirely  fluid,  and  of  the  same  density  throughout.*  So  far, 
then,  we  have  some  confirmation  at  least,  of  his  being  com- 
posed entirely  of  some  fluid  which  in  its  density  agrees  with 
water. 

16.  But  there  are  other  circumstances  in  the  appearances 
of  Jupiter,  which  still  further  confirm  this  conjecture  of  his 
watery  constitution.  His  belts, — certain  bands  of  darker  and 
lighter  color,  which  run  parallel  to  his  equator,  and  which,  in 
some  degree,  change  their  form,  and  breadth,  and  place,  from 
time  to  time, — ^have  been  conjectured,  by  almost  all  astronom- 
ers, to  arise  from  lines  of  cloud,  alternating  with  tracts  com- 
paratively clear,  and  having  their  direction  determined  by 
currents  analogous  to  our  trade- winds,  but  of  a  much  more 
steady  and  decided  character,  in  consequence  of  the  great 

*  Herscliel,  512.  Bessel,  however,  holds  that  the  oblateness  of 
Jupiter  proves  that  his  interior  is  somewhat  denser  than  his  exterior. 
Fop.  Vorles.  p.  91. 


206  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

rotatory  velocity.*  Now  vapors,  supplying  the  materials  of 
sucli  masses  of  cloud,  would  naturally  be  raised  from  such  a 
watery  sphere  as  we  have  supposed,  by  the  action  of  the  Sun ; 
would  form  such  lines ;  and  would  change  their  form  from 
slight  causes  of  irregularity,  as  the  belts  are  seen  to  do. 
The  existence  of  these  lines  of  cloud  does  of  itself  show  that 
there  is  much  water  on  Jupiter's  surface,  and  is  quite  consist- 
ent with  our  conjecture,  that  his  whole  mass  is  water. f 

17.  Perhaps  some  persons  may  be  disposed  to  doubt 
whether,  if  Jupiter  be,  as  we  suppose,  merely  or  principally 
a  mass  of  water  and  of  vapor,  we  are  entitled  to  extend  to 
him  the  law  of  universal  gravitation,  which  is  the  basis  of  our 
speculations.     But  this  doubt  may  be  easily  dismissed.     "We 

*  Herschel,  513. 

f  A  difficulty  may  be  raised,  founded  on  wliat  we  may  suppose  to 
be  the  fact,  as  to  the  extreme  cold  of  those  regions  of  the  Solar  Sys- 
tem. It  may  be  supposed  that  water  under  such  a  temperature  could 
exist  in  no  other  form  than  ice.  And  that  the  cold  must  there  be  in- 
tense, according  to  our  notion,  there  is  strong  reason  to  believe.  Even 
in  the  outer  regions  of  our  atmosphere,  the  cold  is  probably  very 
many  degrees  below  freezing,  and  in  the  blank  and  airless  void  be- 
yond, it  may  be  colder  still.  It  has  been  calculated  by  physical  phi- 
losophers, on  grounds  which  seem  to  be  solid,  that  the  cold  of  the 
space  beyond  our  atmosj)here  is  100°  below  zero.  The  space  near  to 
Jupiter,  if  an  absolute  vacuum,  in  which  there  is  no  matter  to  receive 
and  retain  heat  Emitted  from  the  Sun,  may,  perhaps,  be  no  colder 
than  it  is  nearer  the  Sun.  And  as  to  the  effect  the  great  cold  would 
produce  on  Jupiter's  watery  material,  we  may  remark,  that  if  there 
be  a  free  surface,  there  will  be  vapor  produced  by  the  Sun's  heat ;  and 
if  there  be  air,  there  will  be  clouds.  We  may  add,  that  so  far  as  we 
have  reason  to  believe,  below  the  freezing  point,  no  accession  of  cold 
produces  any  material  change  in  ice.  Even  in  the  expeditions  of  our 
Arctic  navigators,  a  cold  of  40^  below  zero  was  experienced,  and  ice 
was  still  but  ice,  and  tliere  were  vapors  and  clouds  as  in  our  climate. 
It  is  quite  an  arbitrary  assumption,  to  suppose  tliat  any  cold  which 
may  exist  in  Jupiter  would  prevent  the  state  of  things  which  we  sup- 
pose. 


THE     PLANETS.  207 

know  that  the  waters  of  the  eaith  are  afFected  by  gravitation ; 
not  only  towards  the  earth,  as  shown  by  their  weight,  but  to- 
wards those  distant  bodies,  the  Sun  and  the  Moon ;  for  this 
gravitation  produces  the  tides  of  the  ocean.  And  our  atmos- 
phere also  has  weight,  as  we  know;  and  probably  has  also 
solar  and  lunar  tides,  though  these  are  marked  by  many  other 
causes  of  diurnal  change.  We  have,  then,  the  same  reason 
for  supposing  that  air  and  water,  in  other  parts  of  the  system, 
are  governed  by  universal  gravitation,  and  exercise  them- 
selves the  attractive  force  of  gravitation,  which  we  have  for 
making  the  like  suppositions  with  regard  to  the  most  solid 
bodies.  Whatever  argument  proves  universal  gravitation, 
proves  it  for  all  matter  alike ;  and  Newton,  in  the  course  of 
his  magnificent  generalization  of  the  law,  took  care  to  de- 
monstrate, by  experiment,  as  well  as  by  reasoning,  that  it 
might  be  so  generalized. 

18.  As  bearing  upon  the  question  of  life  in  Jupiter,  there  is 
another  point  which  requires  to  be  considered ;  the  force  of 
gravity  at  his  surface.  Though,  equal  bulk  for  equal  bulk,  he 
is  lighter  than  the  earth,  yet  his  bulk  is  so  great  that,  as  we 
have  seen,  he  is  altogether  much  heavier  than  the  earth.  This, 
his  greater  mass,  makes  bodies,  at  equal  distances  from  the 
centres,  ponderate  proportionally  more  to  him  than  they 
would  do  to  the  earth.  And  though  his  surface  is  11  times 
further  frona  his  centre  than  the  earth's  is,  and  therefore  the 
gravity  at  the  surface  is  thereby  diminished,  yet,  even  after 
this  deduction,  gravity  at  the  surface  of  Jupiter  is  nearly  two 
and  a  half  times  that  on  the  earth.*  And  thus  a  m.an  trans- 
ferred to  the  surface  of  Jupiter  would  feel  a  stone,  carried  in 
his  hands,  and  would  feel  his  own  limbs  also,  (for  his  muscular 
power  would  not  be  altered  by  the  transfer,)  become  2^  times 

*-  Herschel,  508. 


208  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

as  heavy,  as  difficult  to  raise,  as  they  were  before.  Under 
such  circumstances  animals  of  large  dimensions  would  be  op- 
pressed with  their  own  weight.  In  the  smaller  creatures  on 
the  earth,  as  in  insects,  the  muscular  power  bears  a  great  pro- 
portion to  the  weight,  and  they  might  continue  to  run  and  to 
leap,  even  if  gravity  were  tripled  or  quadrupled.  But  an 
elephant  could  not  trot  with  two  or  three  elephants  placed 
upon  his  back.  A  lion  or  tiger  could  not  spring,  with  twice 
or  thrice  his  own  weight  hung  about  his  neck.  Such  an  in- 
crease of  gravity  would  be  inconsistent  then,  with  the  present 
constitution  and  life  of  the  largest  terrestrial  animals  ;  and  if 
we  are  to  suppose  planets  inhabited,  in  which  gravity  is  much 
more  energetic  than  it  is  upon  the  earth,  we  must  suppose 
classes  of  animals  which  are  adapted  to  such  a  different  me- 
chanical condition. 

19.  Taking  into  account  then,  these  circumstances  in 
Jupiter's  state ;  his  (probably)  bottomless  waters  ;  his  light, 
if  any,  solid  materials ;  the  strong  hand  with  which  gravity 
presses  down  such  materials  as  there  are ;  the  small  amount 
of  light  and  heat  which  reaches  him,  at  5  times  the  earth's 
distance  from  the  sun ;  what  kind  of  inhabitants  shall  we  be 
led  to  assign  to  him  ?  Can  they  have  skeletons,  where  no 
substance  so  dense  as  bone  is  found,  at  least  in  large  masses  ? 
It  would  seem  not  probable.*  And  it  would  seem  they  must 
be  dwellers  in  the  waters,  for  against  the  existence  there  of 
solid  land,  we  have  much  evidence.  They  must,  with  so  little 
of  light  and  heat,  have  a  low  degree  of  vitality.     They  must 

*  It  may  be  thought  fanciful  to  suppose  that  because  there  is  little 
or  no  solid  matter  (of  any  kind  known  to  us)  in  Jupiter,  his  animals 
are  not  likely  to  have  solid  skeletons.  The  analogy  is  not  very  strong ; 
but  also,  the  weight  assigned  to  it  in  the  argument  is  small.  Valeat 
quantum  valere  debet. 


THE     PLANETS.  209 

then,  it  would  seem,  be  cartilaginous  and  glutinous  masses ; 
peopling  the  waters  with  minute  forms  :  perhaps  also  with 
larger  monsters ;  for  the  weight  of  a  bulky  creature,  floating 
in  the  fluid,  would  be  much  more  easily  sustained  than  on 
solid  ground.  If  we  are  resolved  to  have  such  a  population, 
and  that  they  shall  live  by  food,  we  must  suppose  that  the 
waters  contain  at  least  so  much  solid  matter  as  is  requisite  for 
the  sustenance  of  the  lowest  classes  ;  for  the  higher  classes  of 
■inimals  will  probably  find  their  food  in  consuming  the  lower. 
{  do  not  know  whether  the  advocates  of  peopled  worlds  will 
*.hink  such  a  population  as  this  worth  contending  for :  but  I 
think  the  only  doubt  can  be,  between  such  a  population,  and 
^one.  If  Jupiter  be  a  mere  mass  of  water,  with  perhaps  a  few 
Binders  at  the  centre,  and  an  envelope  of  clouds  around  it,  it 
-seems  very  possible  that  he  may  not  be  the  seat  of  life  at  all. 
But  if  life  be  there,  it  does  not  seem  in  any  way  likely,  that 
jhe  living  things  can  be  anything  higher  in  the  scale  of  being, 
than  such  boneless,  watery,  pulpy  creatures  as  I  have  im- 
agined. 

20.  Perhaps  it  may  occur  to  some  one  to  ask,  if  this  planet, 
which  presents  so  glorious  an  aspect  to  our  eyes,  be  thus  the 
Abode  only  of  such  imperfect  and  embryotio  lumps  of  vitality 
m  I  have  described ;  to  what  purpose  was  all  that  gorgeous 
array  of  satellites  appended  to  him,  which  would  present,  to 
Intelligent  spectators  on  his  surface,  a  spectacle  far  more  splen- 
did than  any  that  our  skies  ofler  to  us  :  four  moons,  some  as 
great,  and  others  hardly  less,  than  our  moon,  performing  their 
regular  revolutions  in  the  vault  of  heaven.  To  which  it  will 
8uflice,  at  present,  to  reply,  that  the  use  of  those  moons,  under 
such  a  supposition,  would  be  precisely  the  same,  as  the  use 
of  our  moon,  during  the  myriads  of  years  which  elapsed  while 
the  earth  was  tenanted  by  corals  and  madrepores,  shell-fish 


210  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

and  belemnites,  the  cartilaginous  fishes  of  the  Old  Red  Sand- 
stone, or  the  Saurian  monsters  of  the  Lias ;  and  in  short, 
through  all  the  countless  ages  which  elapsed,  before  the  last 
few  thousand  years  :  before  man  was  placed  upon  the  earth 
"  to  eye  the  blue  vault  and  bless  the  useful  light :'  to  reckon 
by  it  his  months  and  years  :  to  discover  by  means  of  it,  the 
structure  of  the  universe,  and  perhaps,  the  special  care  of  his 
Creator  for  him  alone  of  all  his  creatures.  The  moons  of 
Jupiter,  may  in  this  way  be  of  use,  as  our  own  moon  is. 
Indeed  we  know  that  they  have  been  turned  to  most  impor- 
tant purposes,  in  astronomy  and  navigation.  And  knowing 
this,  we  may  be  content  not  to  know  how,  either  the  satellites 
of  Jupiter,  or  the  satellite  of  the  Earth,  tend  to  the  advantage 
of  the  brute  inhabitants  of  the  waters. 

21.  There  is  another  point,  connected  with  this  doctrine  of 
the  watery  nature  of  Jupiter,  which  I  may  notice,  though  we 
have  little  means  of  knowledge  on  the  subject.  Jupiter  being 
thus  covered  with  water,  is  the  water  ever  converted  into 
ice  %  The  planet  is  more  than  5  times  as  far  from  the  sun 
as  the  earth  is  :  the  heat  which  he  receives  is,  on  that  account, 
25  times  less  than  ours.  The  veil  of  clouds  which  covers  a 
large  part  of  his  surface,  must  diminish  the  heat  still  further. 
What  effect  the  absence  of  land  produces,  on  the  freezing  of 
the  ocean,  it  is  not  easy  to  say.  We  cannot,  therefore,  pro- 
nounce with  any  confidence  whether  his  waters  are  ever  frozen 
or  not.  In  the  next  considerable  planet.  Mars,  astronomers 
conceive  that  they  do  trace  the  effects  of  frost ;  but  in  Mars 
we  have  also  appearances  of  land.  In  Jupiter,  we  are  left  to 
mere  conjecture ;  whether  continents  and  floating  islands  of 
ice  still  further  chill  the  fluids  of  the  slimy  tribes  whom  we 
have  been  led  to  regard  as  the  only  possible  inhabitants  ;  or 
whether  the  watery  globe  is  converted  into  a  globe  of  ice ; 


THE     PLANETS.  211 

retaining  on  its  surface,  of  course,  as  much  fluid  as  is  requi- 
site, under  the  evaporating  power  of  the  sun,  to  supply  the 
currents  of  vapor  which  form  the  belts.  In  this  case,  perhaps, 
we  may  think  it  most  likely  that  there  are  no  inhabitants  of 
these  shallow  pools  in  a  planet  of  ice :  at  any  rate,  it  is  not 
worth  while  to  provide  any  new  speculations  for  such  a  hy- 
pothesis. 

22.  We  may  turn  our  consideration  from  Jupiter  to  Saturn  ; 
for  in  many  respects  the  two  planets  are  very  similar.  But  in 
almost  every  point,  which  is  of  force  against  the  hypothesis  of 
inhabitants,  the  case  is  much  stronger  in  Saturn  than  it  is  in 
Jupiter.  Light  and  heat,  at  his  distance,  are  only  one  nine- 
tieth of  those  at  the  Earth.  None  but  a  very  low  degree  of 
vitality  can  be  sustained  under  such  sluggish  influences.  The 
density  of  his  mass  is  hardly  greater  than  that  of  cork  ;  much 
less  than  that  of  water  :  so  that,  it  does  not  appear  what  sup- 
position is  left  for  us,  except  that  a  large  portion  of  the  globe, 
which  we  see  as  his,  is  vapor.  That  the  outer  part  of  the 
globe  is  vapor,  is  proved,  in  Saturn  as  in  Jupiter,  by  the  ex- 
istence of  several  cloudy  streaks  or  belts  running  round  him 
parallel  to  his  equator.  Yet  his  mass,  taken  altogether,  is 
considerable,  on  account  of  his  great  size  ;  and  gravity  would 
be  greater,  at  his  outer  surface,  than  it  is  at  the  earth's.  For 
such  reasons,  then,  as  were  urged  in  the  case  of  Jupiter,  we 
must  either  suppose  that  he  has  no  inhabitants  ;  or  that  they 
are  aqueous,  gelatinous  creatures ;  too  sluggish,  almost  to  be 
deemed  alive,  floating  on  their  ice-cold  waters,  shrouded  for- 
ever by  their  humid  skies. 

23.  Whether  they  have  eyes  or  no,  we  cannot  tell ;  but 
probably  if  they  had,  they  would  never  see  the  Sun ;  and 
therefore  we  need  not  commiserate  their  lot  in  not  seeing  the 
host  of  Saturnian  satellites ;  and  the  King,  which  to  an  intelli- 


212  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

gent  Satiirnian  spectator,  would  be  so  splendid  a  celestial  ob- 
ject. The  Ring  is  a  glorious  object  for  man's  view,  and  his 
contemplation ;  and  therefore  is  not  altogether  without  its 
use.  Still  less  need  we  (as  some  appear  to  do)  regard  as  a 
serious  misfortune  to  the  inhabitants  of  certain  regions  of  the 
planet,  a  solar  eclipse  of  fifteen  years'  duration,  to  which  they 
are  liable  by  the  interposition  of  the  Ring  between  them  and 
the  Sun.* 

24.  The  cases  of  Uranus  and  Neptune  are  similar  to  that  of 
Saturn,  but  of  course  stronger,  in  proportion  to  their  smaller 
light  and  heat.  For  Uranus,  this  is  only  1 -360th,  for  Neptune, 
as  we  have  already  said,  l-900th  of  the  light  and  heat  at  the 
earth.  Moreover,  these  two  new  planets  agree  with  Jupiter 
and  with  Saturn,  in  being  of  very  large  size  and  of  very  small 
density  ;  and  also  we  may  remark,  one  of  them,  probably  both, 
in  revolving  with  great  rapidity,  and  in  nearly  the  same  period, 
namely,  about  10  hours :  at  least,  this  has  been  the  opinion 
of  astronomers  with  regard  to  Uranus.  The  arguments  against 
the  hypothesis  of  these  two  planets  being  inhabited,  are  of 
course  of  the  same  kind  as  in  the  case  of  Jupiter  and  Saturn, 
but  mucli  increased  in  strength ;  and  the  supposition  of  the 
probably  watery  nature  and  low  vitality  of  their  inhabitants 
must  be  commended  to  the  consideration  of  those  who  contend 
for  inhabitants  in  those  remote  regions  of  the  solar  system. 

25.  We  may  now  return  towards  the  Sun,  and  direct  our 
attention  to  the  planet  Mars.  Here  we  have  some  approxima- 
tion to  the  condition  of  the  Earth,  in  circumstances,  as  in  po- 
sition. It  is  true,  his  light  and  heat,  so  far  as  distance  from 
the  Sun  affects  them,  are  less  than  half  those  at  the  Earth. 
His  density  appears  to  be  nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  Earth, 
but  his  mass  is  so  much  smaller,  that  gravity  at  his  surface  is 

*  Herschel,  522. 


THE     PLANETS.  213 

only  one-half  of  what  it  is  here.  Then,  as  to  his  physical  con- 
dition, so  far  as  we  can  determine  it,  astronomers  discern  in 
his  face*  the  outlines  of  continents  and  seas.  The  ruddy  color 
by  which  he  is  distinguished,  the  red  and  fiery  aspect  which  he 
presents,  arise,  they  think,  from  the  color  of  the  land,  while 
the  seas  appear  greenish.  Clouds  often  seem  to  intercept  the 
astronomer's  view  of  the  globe,  which  with  its  continents  and 
oceans  thus  revolves  under  his  eye ;  and  that  there  is  an  at- 
mosphere on  which  such  clouds  may  float,  appears  to  be  fur- 
ther proved,  by  brilliant  white  spots  at  the  poles  of  the  planet, 
which  are  conjectured  to  be  snow ;  for  they  disappear  when 
they  have  been  long  exposed  to  the  sun,  and  are  greatest  when 
just  emerging  from  the  long  night  of  their  polar  winter  ;  the 
snow-line  then  extending  to  about  six  degrees  (reckoned  upon 
the  meridian  of  the  planet)  from  the  pole.  Moreover,  Mars 
agrees  with  the  earth,  in  the  period  of  his  rotation  ;  which  is 
about  24  hours ;  and  in  having  his  axis  inclined  to  his  orbit, 
so  as  to  produce  a  cycle  of  long  and  short  days  and  nights,  a 
return  of  summer  and  winter,  in  every  revolution  of  the  planet. 
26.  We  have  here  a  number  of  circumstances  which  speak 
far  more  persuasively  for  a  similarity  of  condition,  in  this  planet 
and  the  Earth,  than  in  any  of  the  cases  previously  discussed. 
It  is  true.  Mars  is  much  smaller  than  the  earth,  and  has  not 
been  judged  worthy  of  the  attendance  of  a  satellite,  although 
further  from  the  Sun  ;  but  still,  he  may  have  been  judged 
worthy  of  inhabitants  by  his  Creator.  Perhaps  we  are  not 
quite  certain  about  the  existence  of  an  atmosphere ;  and  with- 
out such  an  appendage,  we  can  hardly  accord  him  tenants.  But 
if  he  have  inhabitants,  let  us  consider  of  what  kind  they  must 
be  conceived  to  be,  according  to  any  judgment  which  we  can 
form.     The  force  of  his  gravity  is  so  small,  that  we  may  al- 

*  Herschel,  510. 


214  THE    PLURALITY    OF    WORLDS. 

low  his  animals  to  be  large,  without  fearing  that  they  will  break 
down  by  their  own  weight.  In  a  planet  so  dense,  they  may 
very  likely  have  solid  skeletons.  The  ice  about  his  poles  will 
cumber  the  seas,  cold  even  for  the  want  of  solar  heat,  as  it 
does  in  our  arctic  and  antarctic  oceans ;  and  we  may  easily 
imagine  that  these  seas  are  tenanted,  like  those,  by  huge  crea- 
tures of  the  nature  of  whales  and  seals,  and  by  other  creatures 
which  the  existence  of  these  requires  and  implies.  Or  rather, 
since,  as  we  have  said,  we  must  suppose  the  population  of  other 
planets  to  be  more  different  from  our  existing  population,  than 
the  population  of  other  ages  of  our  own  planet,  we  may  sup- 
pose the  population  of  the  seas  and  of  the  land  of  Mars,  (if 
there  be  any,  and  if  we  are  not  carrying  it  too  high  in  the  scale 
of  vital  activity,)  to  differ  from  any  terrestrial  animals,  in  some- 
thing of  the  same  way  in  which  the  great  land  and  sea  saurians, 
or  the  iguanodon  and  dinotherium,  differed  from  the  animals 
which  now  live  on  the  earth. 

27.  That  we  need  not  discuss  the  question,  whether  there  are 
intelligent  beings  living  on  the  surface  of  Mars,  perhaps  the 
reader  will  allow,  till  we  have  some  better  evidence  that  there 
are  living  things  there  at  all ;  if  he  calls  to  mind  the  immense 
proportion  which,  on  the  earth,  far  better  fitted  for  the  habi- 
tation of  the  only  intelligent  creature  which  we  know  or  can 
conceive,  the  duration  of  unintelligent  life  has  borne  to  that  of 
intelligent.  Here,  on  this  Earth,  a  few  thousand  years  ago, 
began  the  life  of  a  creature  who  can  speculate  about  the  past 
and  the  future,  the  near  and  the  absent,  the  Universe  and  its 
Maker,  duty  and  immortality.  This  began  a  few  thousand 
years  ago,  after  ages  and  myriads  of  ages,  after  immense  va- 
rieties of  lives  ana  generations,  of  corals  and  mollusks,  sauri- 
ans, iguanodon s,  and  dinotheriums.  No  doubt  the  Creator 
might  place  an  intelligent  creature  upon  a  planet,  without  all 


THE     PLANETS.  215 

this  preparation,  all  this  preliminary  life.  He  has  not  chosen 
to  do  so  on  the  earth,  as  we  know ;  and  that  is  by  nauch  the  best 
evidence  attainable  by  us,  of  what  His  purposes  are.  It  is  also 
possible  that  He  should,  on  another  planet,  have  established 
creatures  of  the  nature  of  corals  and  mollusks,  saurians  and 
iguanodons,  without  having  yet  arrived  at  the  period  of  intelli- 
gent creatures :  especially  if  that  other  planet  have  longer 
years,  a  colder  climate,  a  smaller  mass,  and  perhaps  no  atmos- 
phere. It  is  also  possible  that  He  should  have  put  that  smaller 
planet  near  the  Earth,  resembling  it  in  som.e  respects,  as  the 
Moon  does,  but  without  any  inhabitants,  as  she  has  none  ;  and 
that  Mars  may  be  such  a  planet.  The  probability  against  such 
a  belief  can  hardly  be  considered  as  strong,  if  the  argument? 
already  offered  be  regarded  as  effective  against  the  opinion  oi 
inhabitants  in  the  other  planets,  and  in  the  Moon. 

28.  The  numerous  tribe  of  small  bodies,  which  revolve  h( 
tween  Jupiter  and  Mars,  do  not  admit  of  much  of  the  kind  o-. 
reasoning,  which  we  have  applied  to  the  larger  planets.  They 
have,  with  perhaps  one  exception  (Vesta)  no  disk  of  visible 
m.agnitude ;  they  are  mere  dots,  and  we  do  not  even  know  that 
their  form  is  spherical.  The  near  coincidence  of  their  orbits 
has  suggested,  to  astronomers,  the  conjecture  that  they  hav3 
resulted  from  the  explosion  of  a  larger  body,  and  from  its  frac- 
ture into  fragments.  Perhaps  the  general  phenomena  c-f  the 
universe  suggest  rather  the  notion  of  a  collapse  of  portions  of 
sidereal  matter,  than  of  a  sudden  disruption  and  dispersion  of 
any  portion  of  it ;  and  these  small  bodies  may  be  the  results 
of  some  imperfectly  effected  concentration  of  the  elements  of 
our  system  ;  which,  if  it  had  gone  on  more  completely  and 
regularly,  might  have  produced  another  planet,  like  Mars  or 
Venus.  Perhaps  they  are  only  the  larger  masses,  among  a 
great  number  of  smaller  ones,  resulting  from  such  a  process : 


216  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

and  it  is  very  conceivable,  that  the  meteoric  stones  which,  from 
time  to  time,  have  fallen  upon  the  earth's  surface,  are  other 
results  of  the  like  process  : — ^bits  of  planets  which  have  failed 
in  the  making,  and  lost  their  way,  till  arrested  by  the  resist- 
ance of  the  earth's  atmosphere.  A  remarkable  circumstance 
in  these  bodies  is,  that  though  thus  coming  apparently  from 
some  remote  part  of  the  system,  they  contain  no  elements  but 
such  as  had  already  been  found  to  exist  in  the  mass  of  the 
earth ;  although  some  substances,  as  nickel  and  chrome,  which 
are  somewhat  rare  in  the  earth's  materials,  are  common  parts 
of  the  composition  of  meteoric  stones.  Also  they  are  of  crys- 
talline structure,  and  exhibit  some  peculiarities  in  their  crystalli- 
zation. Such  as  these  strange  visitors  are,  they  seem  to  show 
that  the  other  parts  of  the  solar  system  contain  the  same  ele- 
mentary substances,  and  are  subject  to  the  same  laws  of  chem- 
ical synthesis  and  crystalline  force,  which  obtain  in  the  terres- 
trial region.  The  smallness  of  these  specimens  is  a  necessary 
condition  of  their  reaching  us ;  for  if  they  had  been  more 
massive,  they  would  have  followed  out  the  path  of  their  orbits 
round  the  sun,  however  eccentric  these  might  be.  The  great 
eccentricity  of  the  smaller  planets,  their  great  deviation  from 
the  zodiacal  path,  which  is  the  highway  of  the  large  planets, 
their  great  number,  probably  by  no  means  yet  exhausted  by 
the  discoveries  of  astronomers ;  all  fall  in  with  the  supposition 
that  there  are,  in  the  solar  system,  a  vast  multitude  of  such 
abnormal  planetoidal  lumps.  As  1  have  said,  we  do  not  even 
know  that  they  are  approximately  spherical ;  and  if  they  are 
of  the  nature  of  meteoric  stones,  they  are  mere  crude  and  ir- 
regularly crystallized  masses  of  metal  and  earth.  It  will  there- 
fore, probably,  be  deemed  unnecessary  to  give  other  reasons 
why  these  planetoids  are  not  inhabited.  But  if  it  be  granted 
that  they  are  not,  we  have  here,  in  addition  to  the  moon,  a 


THE     PLANETS.  217 

large  array  of  examples,  to  prove  how  baseless  is  the  assump- 
tion, that  all  the  bodies  of  the  solar  system  are  the  seats  of  life. 
29.  We  have  thus  performed  our  journey  from  the  extremest 
verge  of  the  Universe,  so  far  as  we  have  any  knowledge  of  it, 
to  the  orbit  of  our  own  planet ;  and  have  found,  till  we  came 
into  our  own  most  immediate  vicinity,  strong  reasons  for  re- 
jecting the  assumption  of  inhabited  worlds  like  our  own ;  and 
indeed,  of  the  habitation  of  worlds  in  any  sense.  And  even  if 
Mars,  in  his  present  condition,  may  be  some  image  of  the 
Earth,  in  some  of  its  remote  geological  periods,  it  is  at  least 
equally  possible  that  he  may  be  an  image  of  the  Earth,  in  the 
still  remoter  geological  period  before  life  began.  Of  peculiar 
fitnesses  which  make  the  earth  suited  to  the  sustentation  of 
life,  as  we  know  that  it  is,  we  shall  speak  hereafter ;  and  at 
present  pass  on  to  the  other  planets,  Venus  and  Mercury. 
But  of  these,  there  is,  in  our  point  of  view,  very  little  to  say. 
Venus,  which,  when  nearest  to  us,  fills  a  larger  angle  than  any 
other  celestial  body,  except  the  Sun  and  the  Moon,  might  be 
expected  to  be  the  one  of  which  we  know  most.  Yet  she  is 
really  one  of  the  most  difficult  to  scrutinize  with  our  telescopes. 
Astronomers  cannot  discover  in  her,  as  in  Mars,  any  traces  of 
continents  and  seas,  mountains  and  valleys  ;  at  least  with  any 
certainty.*  Her  illuminated  part  shines  with  an  intense  lustre 
which  dazzles  the  sight  ;f  yet  she  is  of  herself  perfectly  dark ; 
and  it  was  the  discovery,  that  she  presented  the  phases  of  the 
Moon,  made  by  the  telescope  of  Galileo,  which  gave  the  first 
impulse  to  planetary  research.  She  is  almost  as  large  as  the 
earth ;  almost  as  heavy.     The  light  and  heat  which  she  re- 

*  According  to  Bessel,  Schroeter  once  saw  one  bright  point  on  tlie 
dark  ground,  near  the  boundary  of  light  in  Venus,  This  was  taken 
as  proving  a  mountain,  estimated  at  60,000  feet  high.  Pop.  Vorles. 
p.  86. 

f  Herschel,  509. 

10 


218  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

ceives  from  the  Sun  must  be  about  double  those  which  come 
to  the  earth.  We  discern  no  traces  of  a  gaseous  or  watery 
atmosphere  surrounding  her.  Perhaps  if  we  could  see  her 
better,  we  might  find  that  she  had  a  surface  like  the  moon ;  or 
perhaps,  in  the  nearer  neighborhood  of  the  sun,  she  may  have 
cooled  more  slowly  and  quietly,  like  a  glass  which  is  annealed 
in  the  fire ;  and  hence,  may  have  a  smooth  surface,  instead  of 
the  furrowed  and  pimpled  visage  which  the  Moon  presents  to 
us.  With  this  ignorance  of  her  conditions,  it  is  hard  to  say 
what  kind  of  animals  we  could  place  in  her,  if  we  were  disposed 
to  people  her  surface ;  except  perhaps  the  microscopic  crea- 
tures, with  siliceous  coverings,  which,  as  modern  explorers  as- 
sert, are  almost  indestructible  by  heat.  To  believe  that  she 
has  a  surface  like  the  earth,  and  tribes  of  animals,  like  terres- 
trial animals,  and  like  man,  is  an  exercise  of  imagination, 
which  not  only  is  quite  gratuitous,  but  contrary  to  all  the  in- 
formation which  the  telescope  gives  us  ;  and  with  this  remark, 
we  may  dismiss  the  hypothesis. 

30.  Of  Mercury  we  know  still  less.  He  receives  seven 
times  as  much  light  and  heat  as  the  Earth  ;  is  much  smaller 
than  the  earth,  but  perhaj)s  more  dense  ;  and  has  not,  so  far 
as  we  can  tell,  any  of  the  conditions  which  make  animal  exist- 
ence conceivable.  If  it  is  so  difficult  to  find  suitable  inhabit- 
ants for  Venus,  the  difficulty  for  Mercury  is  immensely  greater. 

31.  So  far  then,  we  have  traversed  the  Solar  System,  and 
have  found  even  here,  the  strongest  grounds  that  there  can  be  no 
animal  existence,  like  that  which  alone  we  can  conceive  as  ani- 
mal existence,  except  in  the  planet  next  beyond  the  earth, 
Mars ;  and  there,  not  without  great  modifications.  But  we 
may  make  some  further  remarks  on  the  condition  of  the  sev- 
eral planets,  with  regard  to  what  appears  to  us  to  be  the  ne- 
cessary elements  of  animal  life. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THEOET  OF  THE   SOLAE  SYSTEM. 

1.  We  have  given  our  views  respecting  the  various  planets 
which  constitute  the  Solar  System ; — views  established,  it 
would  seem,  by  all  that  we  know,  of  the  laws  of  heat  and 
moisture,  density  and  attraction,  organization  and  life.  We 
have  examined  and  reasoned  upon  the  cases  of  the  different 
planets  separately.  But  it  may  serve  to  confirm  this  view, 
and  to  establish  it  in  the  reader's  mind,  if  we  give  a  description 
of  the  system  which  shall  combine  and  connect  the  views 
which  we  have  presented,  of  the  constitution  and  peculiarities, 
as  to  physical  circumstances,  of  each  of  the  planets.  It  will 
help  us  in  our  speculations,  if  we  can  regard  the  planets  not 
only  as  a  collection,  but  as  a  scheme ; — if  we  can  give,  not  an 
enumeration  only,  but  a  theory.  Now  such  a  scheme,  such  a 
theory,  appears  to  offer  itself  to  us. 

2.  The  planets  exterior  to  Mars,  Jupiter,  and  Saturn  espe- 
cially, as  the  best  known  of  them,  appear,  by  the  best  judg- 
ment which  we  can  form,  to  be  spheres  of  water,  and  of  aque- 
ous vapor,  combined,  it  may  be,  with  atmospheric  air,  in 
which  their  cloudy  belts  float  over  their  deep  oceans.  Mars 
seems  to  have  some  portion  at  least  of  aqueous  atmosphere  ; 
the  earth,  we  know,  has  a  considerable  atmosphere  of  air,  and 


220  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

of  vapor ;  but  the  Moon,  so  near  to  her  mistress,  has  none. 
On  Venus  and  Mercury,  we  see  nothing  of  a  gaseous  or  aque- 
ous atmosphere ;  and  they,  and  Mars,  do  not  differ  much  in 
their  density  from  the  Earth.  Now,  does  not  this  look  as  if 
the  water  and  the  vapor,  which  belong  to  the  solar  system, 
were  driven  off  into  the  outer  regions  of  its  vast  circuit ;  while 
the  solid  masses  which  are  nearest  to  the  focus  of  heat,  are  all 
approximately  of  the  same  nature  1  And  if  this  be  so,  what 
is  the  peculiar  physical  condition  which  we  are  led  to  ascribe  to 
the  Earth  1  Plainly  this  :  that  she  is  situated  just  in  that  re- 
gion of  the  system,  where  the  existence  of  matter,  both  in  a 
solid,  a  fluid,  and  a  gaseous  condition,  is  possible.  Outside 
the  Earth's  orbit,  or  at  least  outside  Mars  and  the  small 
Planetoids,  there  is,  in  the  planets,  apparently,  no  solid  mat- 
ter ;  or  rather,  if  there  be,  there  is  a  vast  preponderance  of 
watery  and  vaporous  matter.  Liside  the  Earth's  orbit,  we 
see,  in  the  planets,  no  traces  of  water  or  vapor,  or  gas ;  but 
solid  matter,  about  the  density  of  terrestrial  matter.  The 
Earth,  alone,  is  placed  at  the  border  where  the  conditions  of 
life  are  combined  ;  ground  to  stand  upon ;  air  to  breathe  ; 
water  to  nourish  vegetables,  and  thus,  animals ;  and  solid 
matter  to  supply  the  materials  for  their  more  solid  j)arts  ; 
and  with  this,  a  due  supply  of  light  and  heat,  a  due  energy  of 
the  force  of  weight.  All  these  conditions  are,  in  our  concep- 
tion, requisite  for  life  :  that  all  these  conditions  meet,  elsewhere 
than  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Earth's  orbit,  we  see  strong 
reasons  to  disbelieve.  The  Earth,  then,  it  would  seem,  is  the 
abode  of  life,  not  because  all  the  globes  which  revolve  round 
the  Sun  may  be  assumed  to  be  the  abodes  of  life  ;  but  because 
the  Earth  is  fitted  to  be  so,  by  a  curious  and  complex  combi- 
nation of  properties  and  relations,  which  do  not  at  all  apply  to 
the  others.     That  the  Earth  is  inhabited,  is  not  a  reason  for 


THEORY     OF     THE     SOLAR     SYSTEM.  221 

believing  that  the  other  Planets  are  so,  but  for  believing  that 
they  are  not  so. 

3.  Can  we  see  any  physical  reason,  for  the  fact  which  ap- 
pears to  us  so  probable,  that  all  the  water  and  vapor  of  the 
system  is  gathered  in  its  outward  parts  1  It  would  seem  that 
we  can.  Water  and  aqueous  vapor  are  driven  from  the  Sun 
to  the  outer  parts  of  the  solar  system,  or  are  allowed  to  be 
permanent  there  only,  as  they  are  driven  off  and  retained  at 
a  distance  by  any  other  source  of  heat ; — to  use  a  homely  il- 
lustration, as  they  are  driven  from  wet  objects  placed  near  the 
kitchen-fire :  as  they  are  driven  from  the  hot  sands  of  Egypt 
into  the  upper  air  :  as  they  are  driven  from  the  tropics  to  the 
poles.  In  this  latter  case,  and  generally,  in  all  cases,  in  which 
vapor  is  thus  driven  from  a  hotter  region,  when  it  comes  into 
a  colder,  it  may  again  be  condensed  in  water,  and  fall  in  rain. 
So  the  cold  of  the  air  in  the  temperate  zone  condenses  the 
aqueous  vapors  which  flow  from  the  tropics ;  and  so,  we  have 
our  clouds  and  our  showers.  And  as  there  is  this  rainy  region, 
indistinctly  defined,  between  the  torrid  and  the  frigid  zones  on 
the  earth  ;  so  is  there  a  region  of  clouds  and  rain,  of  air  and 
water,  much  more  precisely  defined,  in  the  solar  system,  be- 
tween the  central  torrid  zone  and  the  external  frigid  zone  which 
surrounds  the  Sun  at  a  greater  distance. 

4.  The  EartK's  Orbit  is  the  Temperate  Zone  of  the  Solar 
System.  In  that  Zone  only  is  the  play  of  Hot  and  Cold,  of 
Moist  and  Dry,  possible.  The  Torrid  Zone  of  the  Earth  is 
not  free  from  moisture ;  it  has  its  rains,  for  it  has  its  upper 
colder  atmosphere.  But  how  m^uch  hotter  are  Venus  and  Mer- 
cury than  the  Torrid  Zone  1  There,  no  vapors  can  linger ;  they 
are  expelled  by  the  fierce  solar  energy  ;  and  there  is  no  cool 
stratum  to  catch  them  and  return  them.  If  they  were  there, 
the;;'  must  fly  to  the  outer  regions  ;  to  the  cold  abodes  of  Ju- 


222  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

piter  and  Saturn,  if  on  their  way,  the  Earth  did  not  with  cold 
and  airy  finger  outstretched  afar,  catch  a  few  drops  of  their 
treasures,  for  the  use  of  plant,  and  beast,  and  man.  The  solid 
stone  only,  and  the  metallic  ore  which  can  be  fused  and  solid- 
ified with  little  loss  of  substance,  can  bear  the  continual  force 
of  the  near  solar  fire,  and  be  the  material  of  permanent  solid 
planets  in  that  region.  But  the  lava  pavement  of  the  Inner 
Planets  bears  no  superstructure  of  life ;  for  all  life  would  be 
scorched  away  along  with  water,  its  first  element.  On  the 
Earth  first,  can  this  superstructure  be  raised ;  and  there, 
through  we  know  not  what  graduation  of  forms,  the  waters 
were  made  to  bring  forth  abundantly  things  that  had  life ; 
plants,  and  animals  nourished  by  plants,  and  conspiring  with 
them,  to  feed  on  their  respective  appointed  elements,  in  the  air 
which  surrounded  them.  And  so,  nourished  by  the  influences 
of  air  and  water,  plants  and  animals  lived  and  died,  and  were 
entombed  in  the  scourings  of  the  land,  which  the  descending 
streams  carried  to  the  bottom  of  the  waters.  And  then,  these 
beds  of  dead  generations  were  raised  into  mountain  ranges ; 
perhaps  by  the  yet  unextinguished  forces  of  subterraneous  fires. 
And  then  a  new  creation  of  plants  and  animals  succeeded  ;  still 
living  under  the  fostering  influence  of  the  united  pair.  Air  and 
Water,  which  never  ceased  to  brood  over  the  World  of  Life, 
their  Nurseling  ;  and  then,  perhaps,  a  new  change  of  the  lim- 
its of  land  and  water,  and  a  new  creation  again  :  till  at  last, 
Man  was  placed  upon  the  Earth  ;  with  far  higher  powers,  and 
far  different  purposes,  from  any  of  the  preceding  tribes  of  crea- 
tures :  and  with  this,  for  one  of  his  offices ; — that  there  might 
be  an  intelligent  being  to  learn  how  wonderfully  the  scheme  of 
creation  had  been  carried  on,  and  to  admire,  and  to  worship  the 
Creator. 

5.  But  we  have  a  few  more  remarks  to  make  on  the  struc- 


THEORY     OF     THE     SOLAR     SYSTEM.     •  223 

ture  of  the  Solar  System,  in  this  point  of  view.  When  we  sa^; 
that  the  water  and  vapor  of  the  System  were  driven  to  the 
outer  parts,  or  retained  there,  by  the  central  heat  of  the  Sun, 
perhaps  it  might  be  supposed  to  be  most  simple  and  natural, 
that  the  aqueous  vapor,  and  the  water,  should  assume  its  place 
in  a  distinct  circle,  or  rather  a  spherical  shell,  of  which  the  Sun 
was  the  centre ;  thus  making  an  elemental  sphere  about  the 
centre,  such  as  the  ancients  imagined  in  their  schemes  of  the 
Universe.  Nor  will  we  venture  to  say  that  such  an  arrange- 
mient  of  elements  might  not  be ;  though  perhaps  it  might  be 
shown  that  no  stable  equilibrium  of  the  system  would  be,  in 
this  way,  mechanically  possible.  But  this  at  least  we  may  say ; 
that  a  rotatory  motion  of  all  the  parts  of  the  universe  appear^' 
to  be  a  universal  law  prevalent  in  it,  so  far  as  our  observation 
can  reach :  and  that,  by  such  rotation  of  the  separate  masses, 
the  whole  is  put  in  a  condition  which  is  everywhere  one  of 
stable  equilibrium.  It  was,  then,  agreeable  to  the  general 
scheme,  that  the  excess  of  water  and  vapor,  which  naust  neces- 
sarily be  carried  away,  or  stored  up,  in  the  outer  regions  of 
the  System,  should  be  put  into  shapes  in  which  it  should  have 
a  permanent  place  and  form.  And  thus,  it  is  suitable  to  the 
general  economy  of  creation,  that  this  water  and  vapor  should 
be  packed  into  rotating  masses,  such  as  are  Jupiter  and  Saturn, 
Uranus  and  Neptune.  When  once  collected  in  such  rotating 
masses,  the  attraction  of  its  parts  would  gather  it  into  sphe- 
roidal forms  ;  oblate  by  the  effect  of  rotation,  as  Jupiter,  or 
perhaps  intQ  annular  forms,  like  the  Ring  of  Saturn  ;*  for  such 
also  is  a  mechanically  possible  form  of  equilibrium,  for  a  fluid 
mass.  And  these  spheroids  once  formed,  the  water  would  form 
a  central  nuclevs,  over  which  would  hang  a  cover  of  vapor, 

*  Other  speculators  also  have  regarded  Saturn's  Ring  as  a  ring  of 
cloud  or  water.     See  Cosmos,  hl  527  and  553. 


224  THE     PLURALITY     OP     WORLDS. 

raised  by  the  evaporating  power  of  the  Sun,  and  forming 
clouds,  where  the  rarity  of  the  upper  strata  of  vapor  allowed 
the  cold  of  the  external  space  to  act ;  and  these  clouds,  spun 
into  belts  by  the  rotation  of  the  sphere.  And  thus,  the  vapor, 
which  would  otherwise  have  wandered  loose  about  the  atmos- 
phere, was  neatly  wound  into  balls  ;  which,  again,  were  kept 
in  their  due  place,  by  being  made  to  revolve  in  nearly  circular 
orbits  about  the  Sun. 

6.  And  thus,  according  to  our  view,  water  and  gases,  clouds 
and  vapors,  form  mainly  the  planets  in  the  outer  part  of  the 
solar  system ;  while  masses  such  as  result  from,  the  fusion  of 
the  most  solid  materials,  lie  nearer  the  sun,  and  are  found 
principally  within  the  orbit  of  Jupiter.*  To  conceive  plane- 
tary systems  as  form.ed  by  the  gradual  contraction  of  a  nebu- 
lar mass,  and  by  the  solidification  of  some  of  its  parts,  is  a 
favorite  notion  of  several  speculators.  If  we  adopt  this  notion. 
we  shall,  I  think,  find  additional  proofs  in  favor  of  our  view  of 
the  system.  For,  in  the  first  place,  we  have  the  zodiacal  light, 
a  nebulous  appendage  to  the  Sun,  as  Herschel  conceives,  ex- 
tending beyond  the  orbits  of  Mercury  and  Venus.  These  plan- 
ets, then,  have  not  yet  fully  emerged  from  the  atmosphere  in 
which  they  had  their  origin  : — the  mother-light  and  mother-jire^ 
in  which  they  began  to  crystallize,  as  crystals  do  in  their 
mother-water.  Though  they  are  already  opaque,  they  are  still 
immersed  in  luminous  vapor  :  and  bearing  such  traces  of  their 
chaotic  state  being  not  yet  ended,  we  need  not  wonder,  if  we 
find  no  evidence  of  their  having  inhabitants,  and  some  evidence 
to  the  contrary.     They  are  within  a  nebular  region,  which  may 

*  Humboldt  has  already  remarked  {Cosmos,  l  95,  and  ni.  427),  that 
the  inner  planets  as  far  as  Mars,  and  the  outer  ones  beginning  with  Ju- 
piter, form  two  groups  having  different  properties.  Also  Encke.  (See 
Humboldt's  Note.) 


THEORY     OF     THE     SOLAR     SYSTEM.  225 

easily  be  conceived  to  be  uninhabitable.     And  where  this  neb 
ular  region,  marked  by  the  zodiacal  light,  terminates,  the  world 
of  life  begins,  namely  at  the  Earth. 

7.  But  further,  outside  .this  region  of  the  Earth,  what  dc 
we  find  in  the  solar  system  1  Of  solid  matter,  if  our  views 
are  right,  we  find  nothing  but  an  immense  number  of  small 
bodies ;  namely,  first,  Mars,  who,  as  we  have  said,  is  only 
about  one-eighth  the  earth  in  mass  :  the  twenty-six  small  pla- 
netoids, (or  whatever  number  may  have  been  discovered  when 
these  pages  meet  the  reader's  eye,*)  between  Mars  and  Jupi- 
ter ;  the  four  satellites  of  Jupiter ;  the  eight  satellites  of 
Saturn;  the  six  (if  that  be  the  true  number,)  satellites  of 
Uranus ;  and  the  one  satellite  of  Neptune,  already  detected. 
It  is  very  remarkable,  that  all  this  array  of  small  bodies  be- 
gins to  be  found  just  outside  the  Earth's  orbit.  Supposing,  as 
we  have  found  so  much  reason  to  suppose,  that  Jupiter,  and 
the  other  exterior  planets,  are  not  solid  bodies,  but  masses  of 
water  and  of  vapor ;  the  existence  of  great  solid  planetary 
masses,  such  as  exist  in  the  region  of  the  Earth's  orbit,  is  suc- 
ceeded externally  by  the  existence  of  a  vast  number  of  smaller 
bodies.  The  real  quantity  of  matter  in  these  smaller  bodies 
we  cannot  in  general  determine.  Perhaps  the  largest  of  them, 
(after  Mars,)  may  be  Jupiter's  third  satellite ;  whichf  is 
reckoned,  by  Laplace,  to  have  a  mass  less  than  1-1 0,000th 
of  that  of  Jupiter  himself;  and  thus,  since  Jupiter,  as  we 
have  seen,  has  a  mass  333  times  that  of  the  Earth,  the  satel- 
lite would  be  above  l-30th  of  the  Earth's  mass.J  That  none 
but  masses  of  this  size,  and  many  far   below  this,  are  found 

*  Printed  Oct.  19,  1853. 

f  Herschel,  540. 

I  It  is  probable,  from  the  small  density  of  Jupiter's  satellites,  that 
they  also  consist  in  a  great  measure  of  water  and  vapor.  Only  one 
of  tliem  is  denser  tlian  Jupiter  himself. — Cosmos. 

10* 


226  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

outside  of  Mars,  appears  to  indicate,  that  the  planet-maMng 
powers  which"  were  efficacious  to  this  distance  from  the  sun, 
and  which  produced  the  great  globe  of  the  Earth,  were,  be- 
yond this  point,  feebler;  so  that  they  could  only  give  birth 
to  smaller  masses ;  to  planetoids,  to  satellites,  and  to  meteoric 
stones.  Perhaps  we  may  describe  this  want  of  energy  in  the 
planet-making  power,  by  saying,  that  at  so  great  a  distance 
from  the  central  fire,  there  was  not  heat  enough  to  melt  to- 
gether these  smaller  fragments  into  a  larger  globe  ;*  or  rather, 
when  they  existed  in  a  nebular,  perhaps  in  a  gaseous  state, 
that  there  was  not  heat  enough  to  keep  them  in  that  state,  till 
the  attraction  of  the  parts  of  all  of  them  had  drawn  them  into 
one  mass,  which  might  afterwards  solidify  into  a  single  globe. 
The  tendency  of  nebular  matter  to  separate  into  distinct  por- 
tions, which  may  afterwards  be  more  and  more  detached  from 
each  other,  so  as  to  break  the  nebulous  light  into  patches  and 
specks,  appears  to  be  seen  in  the  structure  of  the  resolvable 
nebulae,  as  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  notice.  And  ac- 
cording to  the  view  we  are  now  taking,  we  may  conceive  such 
patches,  by  farther  cooling  and  concentration,  to  remain  lumi- 
nous as  comets,  and  perhaps  shooting  stars ;  or  to  become 
opaque  as  planets,  planetoids,  satellites,  or  meteoric  stones. 
And  here  we  may  call  to  mind  what  we  have  already  said, 
that  the  meteoric  stones  consist  of  the  same  elements  as  those 
of  the  earth,  combined  by  the  same  laws ;  and  thus  appear  to 
bring  us  a  message  from  the  other  solid  planets,  that  they 
also  have  the  same  elements  and  the  same  chemical  forces  as 
the  earth  has. 

*  It  has,  in  our  own  day,  even  in  the  present  year,  been  regarded 
as  a  great  achievement  of  man  to  direct  tlie  fiery  influences  which  he 
can  command,  so  as  to  cast  a  colossal  statue  in  a  single  piece,  instead 
of  casting  it  in  several  portions. 


THEORY     OF     THE     SOLAR     SYSTEM.  227 

8.  It  has  already  been  supposed,  by  many  astronomers,  that 
shooting  stars,  and  mieteoric  stones,  are  bodies  of  connected 
nature  and  origin ;  and  that  they  are  cosmical,  not  terrestrial 
bodies ; — parts  of  the  solar  system,  not  merely  appendages  to 
the  earth.  It  has  been  conceived,  that  the  luminous  masses, 
which  appear  as  shooting  stars,  when  they  are  without  the 
sphere  of  terrestrial  influences,  may,  when  they  reach  our  at- 
mosphere, collapse  into  such  solid  lumps  as  have  from  time  to 
time  fallen  upon  the  earth's  surface  :  many  of  them,  with  such 
sudden  manifestations  of  light  and  heat,  as  implied  some  rapid 
change  taking  place  in  their  chemical  constitution  and  con- 
sistence. If  shooting  stars  are  of  this  nature,  then,  in  those 
cases  in  which  a  great  number  of  them  appear  in  close  succes- 
sion, we  have  evidence  that  there  is  a  region  in  which  there  is 
a  large  collection  of  matter  of  a  nebulous  kind,  collected  al- 
ready into  small  clouds,  and  ready,  by  any  additional  touch 
of  the  powers  that  hover  round  the  earth,  to  be  further  con- 
solidated into  planetary  matter.  That  the  earth's  orbit  carries 
her  through  such  regions,  in  her  annual  course,  we  have  evi- 
dence, in  the  curious  fact,  now  so  repeatedly  observed,  of 
showers  of  shooting  stars,  seen  at  particular  seasons  of  every 
year;  especially  about  the  13th  of  November,  and  the  10th 
of  August.  This  phenomenon  has  been  held,  most  reasonably, 
to  imply  that  at  those  periods  of  the  year,  the  earth  passes 
through  a  crowd  of  such  meteor-planets,  which  form  a  ring 
round  the  sun  ;  and  revolving  round  him,  like  the  other  planets, 
retain  their  place  in  the  system  from  year  to  year.*  It  may 
be  that  the  orbits  of  these  meteor-planets  are  very  elliptical. 
That  they  are  to  a  certain  extent  elliptical,  appears  to  be 
shown,  by  our  falling  in  with  them  only  once  a  year,  not  every 
half  year,  as  we  should  do,  if  their  orbit,  being  nearly  circular, 
*  Herschel,  900 — 905. 


228  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

met  the  earth's  orbit  in  two  opposite  points.  That  the  shoot- 
ing stars,  thus  seen  in  great  numbers  when  the  earth  is  at  cer- 
tain pomts  of  her  orbit,  are  really  planetoidal  bodies,  appears 
to  be  further  proved  by  this ; — that  they  all  seem  to  move 
nearly  in  the  same  direction.*  They  are,  each  of  them,  visi- 
ble for  a  short  time  only,  (indeed  commonly  only  for  a  few 
seconds),  while  they  are  nearest  the  earth  ;  much  in  the  same 
way  in  which  a  comet  is  visible  only  for  a  small  portion  of  its 
path :  and  this  portion  is  described  in  a  short  time,  because 
they  move  near  the  earth.  They  are  so  small  that  a  little 
change  of  distance  removes  them  beyond  our  vision. 

9.  Perhaps  these  revolving  specks  of  nebulae  are  the  out- 
riders of  the  zodiacal  light ;  portions  of  it,  which,  being  ex- 
ternal to  the  permanently  nebulous  central  mass,  have  broken 
into  patches,  and  are  seen  as  stars  for  the  moment  that  we  are 
near  to  them.  And  if  this  be  true,  we  have  to  correct,  in  a 
certain  way,  what  we  have  previously  said  of  the  zodiacal 
light ; — that  no  one  had  thought  of  resolving  it  into  stars :  for 
it  would  thus  appear,  that  in  its  outer  region,  it  resolves  itself 
into  stars,  visible,  though  but  for  a  moment,  to  the  naked  eye. 

10.  And  thus,  all  these  phenomena  concur  in  making  it  ap- 
pear probable,  that  the  Earth  is  placed  in  that  region  of  the 
solar  system  in  which  the  planet-forming  powers  are  most  vig- 
orous and  potent ; — between  the  region  of  permanent  neb- 
ulous vapor,  and  the  region  of  mere  shreds  and  specks  of 
planetary  matter,  such  as  are  the  satellites  and  the  planetoidal 
group.  And  from  these  views,  finally  it  follows,  that  the 
Earth  is  really  the  largest  planetary  body  in  the  Solar  Sys- 
tem. The  vast  globes  of  Jupiter  and  Saturn,  Uranus  and  Nep- 
tune, which  roll  far  above  her,  are  still  only  huge  masses  of 
cloud  and  vapor,  water  and  air ;  which,  from  their  enormous 

*  Herschel,  901. 


THEORY     OF    THE     SOLAR     SYSTEM.  229 

size,  are  ponderous  enough  to  retain  round  tliem  a  body  of 
small  satellites,  perhaps,  in  some  degree  at  least,  solid ;  and 
which  have  perhaps  a  small  lump,  or  a  few  similar  lumps,  of 
planetary  matter  at  the  centre  of  their  watery  globe.  The 
Earth  is  really  the  domestic  hearth  of  this  Solar  System ; 
adjusted  between  the  hot  and  fiery  haze  on  one  side,  the  cold 
and  watery  vapor  on  the  other.  This  region  only  is  fit  to  be 
a  domestic  hearth,  a  seat  of  habitation  ;  and  in  this  region  is 
placed  the  largest  solid  globe  of  our  system  ;  and  on  this  globe, 
by  a  series  of  creative  operations,  entirely  different  from  any 
of  those  which  separated  the  solid  from  the  vaporous,  the  cold 
from  the  hot,  the  moist  from  the  dry,  have  been  established,  in 
succession,  plants,  and  animals,  and  man.  So  that  the  habita- 
tion has  been  occupied ;  the  domestic  hearth  has  been  sur- 
rounded by  its  family  ;  the  fitnesses  so  wonderfully  combined 
have  been  employed ;  and  the  Earth  alone,  of  all  the  parts 
of  the  frame  which  revolves  round  the  Sun,  has  become  a 
World. 

11.  Perhaps  it  may  tend  still  further  to  illustrate,  and  to 
fix  in  the  reader's  mind,  the  view  of  the  constitution  of  the  so- 
lar system  here  given,  if  we  remark  an  analogy  which  exists, 
in  this  respect,  between  the  Earth  in  particular,  and  the  Solar 
System  in  general.  The  earth,  like  the  central  parts  of  the 
system,  is  warmed  by  the  sun  ;  and  hence,  drives  off  watery 
vapors  into  the  circumambient  space,  where  they  are  condensed 
by  the  cold.  The  upper  regions  of  the  atmosphere,  like  the 
outer  regions  of  the  solar  system,  form  the  vapors  thus  raised 
into  clouds,  which  are  really  only  water  in  minute  drops  ; 
while  in  the  solar  system,  the  cold  of  the  outer  regions,  and 
the  rotation  of  the  masses  themselves,  maintain  the  water,  and 
the  vapor,  in  immense  spheres.  But  Jupiter  and  Saturn  may 
be  regarded  as,  in  many  respects,  immense  clouds  j  the  con- 


230  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

tiiiuous  water  being  collected  at  their  centres,  while  the  more 
airy  and  looser  parts  circulate  above.  They  are  the  permanent 
receptacles  of  the  superfluous  water  and  air  of  the  system. 
What  is  not  wanted  on  the  Earth,  is  stored  up  there,  and 
hangs  above  us,  far  removed  from  our  atmosphere  ;  but  yet, 
like  the  clouds  in  our  atmosphere,  an  example,  what  glorious 
objects  accumulations  of  vapor  and  water,  illuminated  by  the 
rays  of  the  sun,  may  become  in  our  eyes. 

12.  These  views  are  so  different  from  those  hitherto  gener- 
ally entertained,  and  considered  as  having  a  sort  of  religious 
dignity  belonging  to  them,  that  we  may  fear,  at  first  at  least, 
they  will  appear  to  many,  rash  and  fanciful,  and  almost,  as  we 
have  said,  irreverent.  On  the  question  of  reverence  we  may 
hereafter  say  a  few  words ;  but  as  to  the  rashness  of  these 
views,  we  would  beg  the  reader,  calmly  and  dispassionately,  to 
consider  the  very  extraordinary  number  of  points  in  the  solar 
system,  hitherto  unexplained,  which  they  account  for,  or,  at 
least  reduce  into  consistency  and  connection,  in  a  manner 
which  seems  wonderful.  The  Theory,  as  we  may  perhaps 
venture  to  call  it,  brings  together  all  these  known  phenomena  ; 
— the  great  size  and  small  density  of  the  exterior  planets  ; — 
their  belts  and  streaks  ; — Saturn's  ring  ; — Jupiter's  oblateness ; 
— ^the  great  number  of  satellites  of  the  exterior  planets  ; — the 
numerous  group  of  planetoid  bodies  between  Jupiter  and 
Mars  ; — the  appearance  of  definite  shapes  of  land  and  water  on 
jVTars ; — the  showers  of  shooting  stars  which  appear  at  certain 
periods  of  the  year  ; — the  Zodiacal  Light ; — the  appearance  of 
Venus  as  different  from  Mars;— and  finally,  the  material 
composition  of  meteoric  stones. 

13.  Perhaps  there  are  other  phenomena  which  more  readily 
find  an  explanation  in  this  theory,  than  in  any  other  :  for  in- 
stance, the  recent  discovery  of  a  dim  half-transparent  ring,  as 


THEORY     OF     THE     SOLAR     SYSTEM.  231 

an  appendage  to  the  luminous  ring  of  Saturn,  wliich  has 
hitherto  alone  been  observed.  Perhaps  this  is  the  ring  of 
vapor  which  may  naturally  be  expected  to  accompany  the 
ring  of  water.  It  is  the  annular  atmosphere  of  the  aqueous 
annulus.  But,  the  discovery  of  this  faint  ring  being  so  new, 
and  hitherto  not  fully  unfolded,  we  shall  not  further  press  the 
argument,  which,  hereafter,  perhaps,  may  be  more  confidently 
derived  from  its  existence. 

14.  There  are  some  other  facts  in  the  Solar  System,  which, 
we  can  hardly  doubt,  must  have  a  bearing  upon  the  views 
which  we  have  urged ;  though  we  cannot  yet  undertake  to  ex- 
plain that  bearing  fully.  Not  only  do  all  the  planetary  bodies 
of  the  solar  system,  as  well  as  the  Sun  himself,  revolve  upon 
their  axes  ;  but  there  is  a  very  curious  fact  relative  to  these 
revolutions,  which  appears  to  point  out  a  further  connection 
among  them.  So  far  as  has  yet  been  ascertained,  all  those 
which  we,  in  our  theory,  regard  as  solid  bodies.  Mercury, 
Venus,  the  Earth,  and  Mars,  revolve  in  very  nearly  the  same 
time  :  namely,  in  about  twenty-four  hours.  All  those  larger 
m^asses,  on  the  other  hand,  which  we,  in  our  theory,  hold  to  be 
watery  planets,  Jupiter,  Saturn,  Uranus,  revolve,  not  in  a 
longer  time,  as  would  perhaps  have  been  expected,  from  theii' 
greater  size,  but  in  a  shorter  time  ;  in  less  than  half  the  time  ; 
in  about  ten  hours.  The  near  agreement  of  the  times  of  re- 
volution in  each  of  these  two  groups,  is  an  extremely  curious 
fact ;  and  cannot  fail  to  lead  our  thoughts  to  the  probability 
of  some  common  original  cause  of  these  motions.  But  no 
such  common  cause  has  been  suggested,  by  any  speculator  on 
these  subjects.  If,  in  this  blank,  even  of  hypotheses,  one 
might  be  admitted,  as  at  least  a  mode  of  connecting  the  facts, 
we  might  say,  that  the  compound  collection  of  solid  materials, 
water,  and  air,  of  which  the  solar  system  consists,  and  of 


232  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

which  our  earth  alone,  perhaps,  retains  the  combination,  being, 
by  whatever  means,  set  a  spinning  round  an  axis,  at  the  rate 
of  one  revolution  in  24  hours,  the  solid  masses  which  were  de- 
tached from  it,  not  being  liable  to  much  contraction,  retained 
their  rate  of  revolution  ;  while  the  vaporous  masses  which 
were  detached  from  the  fluid  and  airy  part,  contracting  much, 
when  they  came  into  a  colder  region,  increased  their  rate  of 
revolution  on  account  of  their  contraction.  That  such  an  ac- 
celeration of  the  rate  of  revolution  would  be  the  result  of 
contraction,  is  known  from  mechanical  principles ;  and  indeed, 
is  evident :  for  the  contraction  of  a  circular  ring  of  such 
matter  into  a  narrower .  compass,  would  not  diminish  the 
linear  velocity  of  its  elements,  while  it  would  give  them  a 
smaller  path  to  describe  in  their  revolutions.  Such  an  hypo- 
thesis would  account,  therefore,  both  for  the  nearly  equal 
times  of  revolution  of  all  the  solid  planets,  and  for  the  smaller 
period  of  rotation,  which  the  larger  planets  show. 

15.  In  what  manner,  however,  portions  are  to  be  detached 
from  such  a  rotating  mass,  so  as  to  form  solid  planets  on  the 
one  side,  and  watery  planets  on  the  other,  and  how  these 
planets,  so  detached,  are  to  be  made  to  revolve  round  the  Sui , 
in  orbits  nearly  circular,  we  have  no  hypothesis  ready  to  ex 
plain.  And  perhaps  we  may  say,  that  no  satisfactory,  or  even 
plausible,  hypothesis  to  explain  these  facts,  has  been  proposed : 
for  the  Nebular  Hypothesis,  the  only  one  which  is  likely  to  be 
considered  as  worthy  any  notice  on  this  subject,  is  too  imper- 
fectly worked  out,  as  yet,  to  enable  us  to  know,  what  it  will 
or  will  not  account  for.  According  to  that  hypothesis,  the 
nebular  matter  of  a  system,  having  originally  a  rotatory  mo- 
tion, gradually  contracts  ;  and  separating,  at  various  distances 
from  the  centre,  forms  rings  ;  which  again,  breaking  at  some 
point  of  their  circumference,  are,  by  the  mutual  attraction  of 


THEORY     OF     THE     SOLAR     SYSTEM.  233 

their  parts,  gathered  up  into  one  mass ;  which,  when  cooled 
down,  so  as  to  be  opaque,  becomes  a  planet ;  still  revolving 
round  the  luminous  mass  which  remains  at  the  centre.  That 
such  a  process,  if  we  suppose  the  consistenej,  and  other  prop- 
erties, of  the  nebulous  matter  to  be  such  as. to  render  it  possi- 
ble, would  produce  planetary  masses  revolving  round  a  sun  in 
nearly  circular  orbits,  and  rotating  about  their  own  axes,  seems 
most  likely ;  though  it  does  not  appear  that  it  has  been  very 
clearly  shown.*  But  no  successful  attempt  has  been  made 
to  deduce  any  laws  of  the  distances  from  the  centre,  times  of 
rotation,  or  other  properties  of  such  planets ;  and  therefore, 

*  Besides  the  curious  relation  of  the  times  of  rotation  of  the  plan- 
ets, just  noticed,  there  is  another  curious  relation,  of  their  distance 
from  the  Sun,  which  any  one,  wishing  to  frame  an  hypothesis  on  the 
origin  of  our  Solar  System,  ought  by  all  means  to  try  to  account  for. 

The  distances  from  the  Sun,  of  the  planets,  Mercury,  Venus,  Earth, 
Mars,  the  Planetoids,  Jupiter,  Saturn,  Uranus,  are  nearly  as  the  num- 
bers, 

4,  1,  10,  16,  28,  52,  100,   196: 

now  the  excesses  of  each  of  these  numbers  above  the  first  are, 

3,  3,  6,  12,  24,  48,  96: 
a  series  in  which  each  term  (after  the  first,)  is  double  of  the  preced- 
ing one.  Hence,  the  distances  of  the  planets  conform  to  a  series  fol- 
lowing this  law,  {Bode's  law,  as  it  is  termed.)  And  though  the  law  is 
by  no  means  exact,  yet  it  was  so  far  considered  a  probable  expression 
of  a  general  fact,  that  the  deviation  from  this  law,  in  the  interval  be- 
tween Mars  and  Jupiter,  was  the  principal  cause  which  led  first  to 
the  suspicion  of  a  planet  interposed  in  the  seemingly  vacant  space ; 
and  thus  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  planetoids,  which  really  occupy 
that  region.  It  is  true,  that  the  law  is  found  not  to  hold,  in  the  case 
of  the  newly-discovered  planet  Neptune ;  for  his  distance  from  the 
Sun,  which  according  to  this  law,  should  be  388,  is  really  only  EOO, 
30  times  the  Earth's  distance,  instead  of  89  times.  Still,  Bode's  law 
has  a  comprehensive  approximate  reality  in  the  Solar  System,  suffici- 
ent to  make  it  a  strong  recommendation  of  any  hypothesis  of  the 
origin  of  the  system,  that  it  shall  account  for  this  law.  This,  how- 
however,  the  nebular  hypothesis  does  not. 


234  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS, 

we  cannot  say  that  the  nebular  hypothesis  is  yet  in  any  de- 
gree confirmed. 

16.  The  Theory  which  we  have  ventured  to  propose,  of  the 
Solar  System,  agrees  with  the  Nebular  Hypothesis,  so  far  as 
that  hypothesis  goes ;  if  we  suppose  that  there  is,  at  the  centre 
of  the  exterior  planets,  Jupiter,  Saturn,  Uranus,  and  Neptune, 
a  solid  nucleus,  probably  small,  of  the  same  nature  as  the 
other  planets.  Such  an  addition  to  our  theory  is,  perhaps,  on 
all  accounts,  probable  :  for  that  circumstance  would  seem  to 
determine,  to  particular  points,  the  accumulation  of  water  and 
vapors,  to  which  we  hold  that  those  planets  owe  the  greater 
part  of  their  bulk.  Those  planets  then,  Jupiter,  Saturn,  and 
the  others,  are  really  small  solid  planets,  with  enormous 
oceans  and  atmospheres.  The  Nebular  Hypothesis,  in  that 
case,  is  that  part  of  our  Hypothesis,  which  relates  to  the  con- 
densation of  luminous  nebular  matter ;  while  we  consider,  fur- 
ther, the  causes  which,  scorching  the  iimer  planets,  and  driving 
the  vapors  to  the  outer  orbs,  would  make  the  region  of  the 
earth  the  only  habitable  part  of  the  system. 

17.  The  belief  that  other  planets,  as  well  as  our  own,  are 
the  seats  of  habitation  of  living  things,  has  been  entertained,  in 
general,  not  in  consequence  of  physical  reasons,  but  in  spite 
of  physical  reasons ;  and  because  there  were  conceived  to  be 
other  reasons,  of  another  kind,  theological  or  philosophical, 
for  such  a  belief.  It  was  held  that  Venus,  or  that  Saturn,  was 
inhabited,  not  because  any  one  could  devise,  with  any  degree 
of  probability,  any  organized  structure  which  would  be  suit 
able  to  animal  existence  on  the  surfaces  of  those  planets  ;  but 
because  it  was  conceived  that  the  greatness  or  goodness  of  the 
Creator,  or  His  wisdom,  or  some  other  of  His  attributes, 
would  be  manifestly  imperfect,  if  these  planets  were  not 
tenanted  by  living  creatures.      The  evidences  of  design,  of 


THEORY     OF     THE     SOLAR     SYSTEM.  235 

which  we  can  trace  so  many,  and  such  striking  examples,  in 
our  own  sphere,  the  sphere  of  life,  must,  it  was  assumed,  exist, 
in  the  like  form,  in  every  other  part  of  the  universe.  The 
disposition  to  regard  the  Universe  in  this  point  of  view,  is  very 
general ;  the  disinclination  to  accept  any  change  in  our  belief 
which  seems,  for  a  time,  to  interfere  with  this  view,  is  very 
strong ;  and  the  attempt  to  establish  the  necessity  of  new 
views  discrepant  from  these  has,  in  many  eyes,  an  appearance 
as  if  it  were  unfriendly  to  the  best  established  doctrines  of 
Natural  Theology.  All  these  apprehensions  will,  we  trust,  be 
shown,  in  the  sequel,  to  be  utterly  unfounded :  and  in  order 
that  any  such  repugnance  to  the  doctrines  here  urged,  may 
not  linger  in  the  reader's  mind,  we  shall  next  proceed  to  con- 
template the  phenomena  of  the  universe  in  their  bearing  upon 
such  speculations. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  AEGUMENT  FEOM   DESIGN". 

1.  There  is  no  more  worthy  or  suitable  employment  of  the 
human  mind,  than  to  trace  the  evidences  of  Design  and  Pur- 
pose in  the  Creator,  which  are  visible  in  many  parts  of  the  Cre- 
ation. The  conviction  thus  obtained,  that  man  was  formed  by 
the  wisdom,  and  is  governed  by  the  providence,  of  an  intelli- 
gent and  benevolent  Being,  is  the  basis  of  Natural  Religion, 
and  thus,  of  all  Religion.  We  trust  that  some  new  lights  will 
be  thrown  upon  the  traces  of  Design  which  the  Universe  offers, 
even  in  the  work  now  before  the  reader  ;  and  as  our  views,  re- 
garding the  plan  of  such  Design,  are  different,  in  some  respects, 
and  especially  as  relates  to  the  Planets  and  Stars,  from  those 
which  have  of  late  been  generally  entertained,  it  will  be  proper 
to  make  some  general  remarks,  mainly  tending  to  show,  that 
the  argument  remains  undisturbed,  though  the  physical  theory 
is  changed. 

2.  It  cannot  surprise  any  one  who  has  attended  to  the  history 
of  science,  to  find  that  the  views,  even  of  the  most  philosoph- 
ical minds,  with  regard  to  the  plan  of  the  universe,  alter,  as 
man  advances  from  falsehood  to  truth :  or  rather,  from  very 
impcrfeet  truth  to  truth  less  imperfect.  But  yet  such  a  one 
will  not  be  disposed  to  look,  with  any  other  feeling  than  pro- 


THE    ARGUMENT     FROM     DESIGN.  237 

found  respect,  upon  the  reasonings  by  which  the  wisest  men  of 
former  times  ascended  from  their  erroneous  views  of  nature  to 
the  truth  of  Natural  Religion.  It  cannot  seem  strange  to  us 
that  man  at  any  point,  and  perhaps  at  every  point,  of  his  in- 
tellectual progress,  should  have  an  imperfect  insight  into  the 
plan  of  the  Universe ;  but,  in  the  most  imperfect  condition  of 
such  knowledge,  he  has  light  enough  from  it,  to  see  vestiges  of 
the  Wisdom  and  Benevolence  of  the  Creating  Deity  ;  and  at 
the  highest  point  of  his  scientific  progress,  he  can  probably 
discover  little  more,  by  the  light  which  physical  science  sup- 
plies. We  can  hardly  hope,  therefore,  that  any  new  truths 
with  regard  to  the  material  universe,  which  may  now  be  at- 
tainable, will  add  very  much  to  the  evidence  of  creative  design  ; 
but  we  may  be  confident,  also,  that  they  will  not,  when  rightly 
understood,  shake  or  weaken  such  evidence.  It  has  indeed  hap- 
pened, in  the  history  of  mankind,  that  new  views  of  the  con- 
stitution of  the  universe,  brought  to  the  light  by  scientific  re- 
searches, and  established  beyond  doubt,  in  the  conviction  of 
impartial  persons,  have  disturbed  the  thoughts  of  religious 
men  ;  because  they  did  not  fall  in  with  the  view  then  enter- 
tained, of  the  mode  in  which  God  effects  his  purpose  in  the 
universe.  But  in  these  cases,  it  soon  came  to  be  seen,  after  a 
season  of  controversy,  reproach,  and  alarm,  that  the  old  argu- 
ment for  design  was  capable  of  being  translated  into  the  lan- 
guage of  the  new  theory,  with  no  loss  of  force ;  and  the  minds 
of  men  were  gradually  tranquillized  and  pacified.  It  may  be 
hoped  that  the  world  is  now  so  much  wiser  than  it  was  two  or 
three  centuries  ago,  that  if  any  modification  of  the  current  ar- 
guments for  the  Divine  Attributes,  drawn  from  the  aspect  of 
the  universe,  become  necessary,  in  consequence  of  the  rectifica- 
tion of  received  errors,  it  will  take  place  without  producing 


238  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

pain,  fear,  or  anger.     To  promote  this  purpose,  we  proceed  to 
make  a  few  remarks. 

3.  The  proof  of  Design,  as  shown  in  the  works  of  Creation, 
is  seen  most  clearly,  not  in  mere  physical  arrangement,  but  in 
the  structure  of  organized  things ; — in  the  constitution  of  plants 
and  animals.  In  those  parts  of  nature,  the  evidences  of  intelli- 
gent purpose,  of  wise  adaptation,  of  skilful  selection  of  means 
to  ends,  of  provident  contrivance,  are,  in  many  instances,  of 
the  most  striking  kind.  Such,  for  example,  are  the  structure 
of  the  human  eye,  so  curiously  adapted  for  its  office  of  see- 
ing ;  the  muscles,  cords,  and  pullies  by  which  the  limbs  of  an- 
imals are  moved,  exceeding  far  the  mechanical  ingenuity  shown 
in  human  inventions ;  the  provisions  which  exist,  before  the 
birth  of  offspring,  for  its  sustenance  and  well-being  when  it 
shall  have  been  born ; — these  are  lucid  and  convincing  proofs 
of  an  intelligent  Creator,  to  which  no  ordinary  mind  can  refuse 
its  conviction.  Nor  is  the  evidence,  which  we  here  recognize, 
deprived  of  its  force,  when  we  see  that  many  parts  of  the  struc- 
ture of  animals,  though  adapted  for  particular  purposes,  are 
yet  framed  as  a  portion  of  a  system  which  does  not  seem,  in 
its  general  form,  to  have  any  bearing  on  such  purposes.*  The 
beautiful  contrivances  which  exist  in  the  skeleton  of  man,  and 
the  contrivances,  possessing  the  same  kind  of  beauty,  in  the 
skeleton  of  a  sparrow,  do  not  appear  to  any  reasonable  person 
less  beautiful,  because  the  skeleton  of  a  man,  and  of  a  sparrow, 
have  an  agreement,  bone  for  bone,  for  which  we  see  no  reason, 
and  which  appears  to  us  to  answer  no  purpose.  The  way  in 
which  the  human  hand  and  arm  are  made  capable  of  their  in- 

*  The  greatest  anatomists,  and  especially  Mr.  Owen,  have  recently 
expressed  their  conviction,  that  researches  on  the  structure  of  animals 
must  be  guided  by  the  principle  of  unity  of  composition  as  well  as  the 
principle  of  final  causes.     See  Owen  On  the  Nature  of  Limbs. 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     DESIGN.  239 

finite  variety  of  use,  by  the  play  of  the  radius  and  ulna,  the 
bones  of  the  wrist  and  the  fingers,  is  not  the  less  admirable, 
because  we  can  trace  the  representatives  and  rudiments  of  each 
of  these  bones,  in  cases  where  they  answer  no  such  ends ; — in 
the  foreleg  of  the  pig,  the  ox,  the  horse,  or  the  seal.  The  pro- 
vision for  feeding  the  young  creature,  which  is  made,  with 
such  bounteous  liberality,  and  such  opportune  punctuality,  by 
the  breasts  of  the  mother,  has  not  any  doubt  thrown  upon  its 
reality,  by  the  teats  of  male  >  animals  and  the  paps  of  man, 
which  answer  no  such  purpose.  That  in  these  cases  there  is 
manifested  a  wider  plan,  which  does  not  show  any  reference  to 
the  needs  of  particular  cases  ;  as  well  as  peculiar  contrivances 
for  the  particular  cases,  does  not  disturb  our  impression  of  de- 
sign in  each  case.  Why  should  so  large  a  portion  of  the  ani- 
mal kingdom,  intended,  as  it  seems,  for  such  different  fields  of 
life  and  modes  of  living  ; — beasts,  birds,  fishes ; — still  have  a 
skeleton  of  the  same  plan,  and  even  of  the  same  parts,  bone 
for  bone  ;  though  many  of  the  parts,  in  special  cases,  appear 
to  be  altogether  useless  (namely,  the  vertebrate  plan)  1  We 
cannot  tell.  Our  naturalists  and  comparative  anatomists,  it 
would  seem,  cannot  point  out  any  definite  end,  which  is  an- 
swered by  making  so  many  classes  of  animals  on  this  one  ver- 
tebrate plan.  And  since  they  cannot  do  this,  and  since  we 
cannot  tell  why  animals  are  so  made,  we  must  be  content  to 
say  that  we  do  not  know ;  and  therefore,  to  leave  this  feature 
in  the  structure  of  animals  out  of  our  argument  for  design. 
Hence  we  do  not  say  that  the  making  of  beasts,  birds,  and 
fishes,  on  the  same  vertebrate  plan,  proves  design  in  the  Cre- 
ator, in  any  way  in  which  we  can  understand  design.  That 
plan  is  not  of  itself  a  proof  of  design ;  it  is  something  in  ad- 
dition to  the  proofs  of  design ;  a  general  law  of  the  animal 
creation,  established,  it  may  be,  for  some  other  reason.     But 


240  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

this  common  plan  being  given,  we  can  discern  and  admire,  in 
every  kind  of  animal,  the  manner  in  which  the  common  plan 
is  adapted  to  the  particular  purpose  which  the  animal's  kind  of 
life  involves.*  The  general  law  is  not  all ;  there  is  also,  in 
every  instance,  a  special  care  for  the  species.  The  general  law 
may  seem,  in  many  cases,  to  remove  further  from  us  the  proof 
of  providential  care;  by  showing  that  the  elements  of  the 
benevolent  contrivance  are  not  provided  in  the  cases  alone 
where  they  are  needed,  but  in  others  also.  But  yet  this  seem- 
ing, this  obscuration  of  the  evidence  of  design,  by  interposing 
the  form  of  general  law,  cannot  last  long.  If  the  general  law 
supplies  the  elements,  still  a  special  adaptation  is  needed  to 
make  the  elements  answer  such  a  purpose ;  and  what  is  this 
adaptation,  but  design  *?  The  radius  and  ulna,  the  carpal  and 
metacarpal  bones,  are  all  in  the  general  type  of  the  vertebrate 
skeleton.  But  does  this  fact  make  it  the  less  wonderful,  that 
man's  arm  and  hand  and  fingers  should  be  constructed  so  that 
he  can  make  and  use  the  spade,  the  plow,  the  loom,  the  pen,  the 
pencil,  the  chisel,  the  lute,  the  telescope,  the  microscope,  and 
all  other  instruments  1  Is  it  not,  rather,  very  wonderful  that 
the  bones  which  are  to  be  found  rudimentally,  in  the  leg-bone 
of  a  horse,  or  the  hoof  of  an  ox,  should  be  capable  of  such  a 
curious  and  fertile  development  and  modification  ?  And  is  not 
such  development  and  modification  a  work,  and  a  proof,  of  de- 
sign and  intention  in  the  Creator  1  And  so  in  other  cases. 
The  teats  of  male  animals,  the  nipples  of  man,  may  arise  from 
this,  that  the  general  plan  of  the  animal  frame  includes  paps, 
as  portions  of  it ;  and  that  the  frame  is  so  flir  moulded  in  the 
embryo,  before  the  sex  of  the  offspring  is  determined.  Be  it 
so.     Yet  still  this  provision  of  paps  in  the  animal  form  in  gen- 

*  This  has  been  termed  by  physiologists  The  Law  of  the  Development 
from  the  General  to  the  Special. 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     DESIGN.  241 

eral,  has  reference  to  offspring  ;  and  the  development  of  that 
part  of  the  frame,  when  the  sex  is  determined,  is  evidence  of 
design,  as  clear  as  it  is  possible  to  conceive  in  the  works  of  na- 
ture. The  general  law  is  moulded  to  the  special  purpose,  at 
the  proper  stage  ;  and  this  play  of  general  laws,  and  special 
contrivances,  into  each  other's  provinces,  though  it  may  make 
the  phenomena  a  little  more  complex,  and  modify  our  notion 
as  to  the  mode  of  the  Creator's  working,  will  not,  in  philo- 
sophical minds,  disturb  the  conviction  that  there  is  design  in 
the  special  adaptations  :  besides  which,  some  other  feature  of 
the  operation  of  the  Creative  Mind  may  be  suggested  by  the 
prevalence  of  general  laws  in  the  Creation. 

4.  There  is,  however,  one  caution  suggested  by  this  view. 
Since,  besides,  and  mixed  with  the  examples  of  Design  which 
the  creation  offers,  there  are  also  results  of  General  Laws,  in 
which  we  cannot  trace  the  purpose  and  object  of  the  law  ;  we 
may  fall  into  error,  if  we  fasten  upon  something  which  is  a 
result  of  such  mere  general  laws,  and  imagine  that  we  can 
discern  its  object  and  purpose.  Thus,  for  instance,  we  might 
possibly  persuade  ourselves  that  we  had  discovered  the  use 
and  purpose  of  the  teats  of  male  animals  ;  or  of  the  trace  of 
separation  into  parts  which  the  leg-bone  of  a  horse  offers ;  or 
of  the  false  toes  of  a  pig :  all  which  are,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
rudiments  of  a  plan  more  general  than  is  developed  in  the 
particular  case.  And  if,  when  we  had  made  such  a  fancied 
discovery,  it  were  found  that  the  uses  and  purposes  which  we 
had  imagined  to  belong  to  these  parts  or  features,  were  not 
really  served  by  them  ;  at  first,  perhaps,  we  might  be  some- 
w^hat  disturbed,  as  having  lost  one  of  the  evidences  of  the  de- 
sign of  the  Creator,  all  which  are  precious  to  a  reverent  mind. 
But  it  is  not  likely  that  any  disturbance  of  a  reverent  mind 
on  such  grounds  as  this,  would  continue  long,  or  go  far.     We 

li 


242  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

should  soon  come  to  recollect,  how  light  and  precarious,  per 
haps  how  arbitrary  and  ill-supported  by  our  real  knowledge^ 
were  the  grounds  on  which  we  had  assigned  such  uses  to  such 
parts.  We  should  turn  back  from  them  to  the  more  solid 
and  certain  evidences,  not  shaken,  nor  likely  to  be  shaken,  by 
any  change  in  prevalent  zoological  or  anatomical  doctrines, 
which  those  who  love  to  contemplate  such  subjects  habitually 
dwell  upon ;  and,  holding  ourselves  ready  to  entertain  any 
speculations  by  which  the  bearing  of  those  general  Laws  upon 
Natural  Religion  could  be  shown,  in  such  a  way  as  to  con- 
vince our  reason,  we  should  rest  in  the  confident  and  tranquil 
persuasion  that  no  success  or  failure  in  such  speculations  could 
vitally  affect  our  belief  in  a  wise  and  benevolent  Deity  : — that 
though  additional  illustrations  of  his  attributes  might  be  in- 
teresting and  welcome,  no  change  of  our  scientific  point  of 
view  could  make  his  being  or  action  doubtful, 

5.  This  is,  it  would  seem,  the  manner  in  which  a  reasonable 
and  reverent  man  would  regard  the  proof  of  a  Supreme  Crea- 
tor and  Governor,  which  is  derived  from  Design,  as  seen  in 
the  organic  creation  ;  and  the  mode  in  which  such  proof  would 
be  affected  by  changes  in  the  knowledge  which  we  may  acquire 
of  the  general  laws  by  which  the  organic  creation  is  consti- 
tuted and  governed.  And  hence,  if  it  should  be  found  to  be 
established  by  the  researches  of  the  most  comprehensive  and 
exact  philosophy,  that  there  are,  in  any  province  of  the  uni- 
verse, resemblances,  gradations,  general  laws,  indications  of 
the  mode  in  which  one  form  approaches  to  another,  and  seems 
to  pass  into  and  generate  another,  which  tend  to  obliterate  dis- 
tinctions which  at  first  appeared  broad  and  conspicuous ;  still 
the  argument,  from  the  design  which  appears  in  the  parts  of 
which  we  most  clearly  see  the  purpose,  would  not  lose  its 
force.     If,  for  instance,  it  should  be  made  apparent,  by  geo- 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     DESIGN.  243 

logical  investigations  of  the  extinct  fossil  creation,  that  the 
animal  forms  which  have  inhabited  the  earth,  have  gradually 
approached  to  that  type  in  which  the  human  form  is  included, 
passing  from  the  rudest  and  most  imperfect  animal  organiza- 
tions, mollusks,  or  even  organic  monads,  to  vertebrate  ani- 
mals, to  warm-blooded  animals,  to  monkeys,  and  to  men  ;  still, 
the  evidences  of  design  in  the  anatomy  of  man  are  not  less 
striking  than  they  were,  when  no  such  gradation  was  thought 
of.  And  what  is  more  to  the  purpose  of  our  argument,  the 
evidences  of  the  peculiar  nature  and  destination  of  man,  as 
shown  in  other  characters  than  his  anatomy, — his  moral  and 
intellectual  nature,  his  history  and  capacities, — stand  where 
they  stood  before  ;  nor  is  the  vast  chasm  which  separates  man, 
as  a  being  with  such  characters  as  these  latter,  from  all  other 
animals,  at  all  filled  up  or  bridged  over. 

6.  The  evidence  of  design  in  the  inorganic  world, — in  the 
relation  of  earth,  air,  water,  heat  and  light, — is,  to  most  per- 
sons, less  striking  and  impressive,  than  it  is  in  the  organic 
creation.  But  even  among  these  mere  physical  elements  of 
the  world,  when  we  consider  them  with  reference  to  living 
things,  we  find  many  arrangements  which,  on  a  reflective  view, 
excite  our  admiration,  by  the  beneficial  effect,  and  seemingly 
beneficent  purpose.  Our  condition  is  furnished  with  the  solid 
earth,  on  which  we  stand,  and  in  which  we  find  the  materials 
of  man's  handiworks  ;  stone  and  metal,  clay  and  sand  ; — with 
the  atmosphere  which  we  breathe,  and  which  is  the  vehicle  of 
oral  intercourse  between  man  and  man  ; — with  revolutions  of 
the  sun,  by  which  are  brought  round  the  successions  of  day 
and  night,  through  all  their  varying  lengths,  and  of  summer 
and  winter ; — with  the  clouds  above  us,  which  pour  upon  the 
earth  their  fertilizing  showers.  All  this  furniture  of  the  earth, 
so  marvellously  adapting  it  for  the  abode  of  living  creatures, 


244  THE     PLURALITY    OF    WORLDS. 

and  especially  of  man,  may  well  be  regarded  as  a  collection 
of  provisions  for  his  benefit : — as  intended  to  do  him  the  good, 
which  they  do.  Nor  would  this  impression  be  removed,  or 
even  weakened,  if  we  were  to  discover  that  some  of  these  ar- 
rangements, mstead  of  being  produced  by  a  machinery  con- 
fined to  that  single  purpose,  were  only  partial  results  of  a 
more  general  plan.  Eor  instance  ;  we  learn  that  the  varying 
lengths  of  days  and  nights  through  the  year,  and  the  varying 
declination  of  the  sun,  are  produced,  not,  as  was  at  first  sup- 
posed, by  the  sun  moving  round  the  earth,  in  a  complex 
diurnal  and  annual  path,  but  by  the  earth  revolving  in  an 
annual  orbit  round  the  sun  ;  while  at  the  same  time  she  has  a 
diurnal  rotation  about  her  own  axis,  which  axis,  by  the  laws  of 
mechanics,  remains  always  parallel  to  itself  When  we  learn 
that  this  is  so,  we  see  that  the  eflfect  is  produced  by  a  mechani- 
cal arrangement  far  more  simple  than  any  which  the  imagina- 
tion of  man  had  devised  ;  but  in  this  case,  the  effect  is  plainly 
rather  an  increased  admiration  at  the  simplicity  of  the  me- 
chanism, than  a  wavering  belief  in  the  reality  of  the  purpose. 
In  like  manner  when,  instead  of  supposing  water  to  exist  in  a 
continuous  reservoir  in  a  firmament  above  the  earth,  and  to 
fall  in  the  earlier  and  in  the  latter  rain,  by  some  special  agency 
for  that  purpose ;  men  learnt  to  see  that  the  water  in  the 
upper  regions  of  the  air  must  exist  in  clouds  and  in  vapors 
only,  and  must  fall  in  showers  by  the  condensing  influence  of 
cold  currents  of  air  ;  they  needed  not  to  cease  to  admire  the 
kindness  of  the  Creator,  in  providing  the  rain  to  water  the 
earth,  and  the  wind  to  dry  it ;  although  the  mechanism  by 
which  the  effect  was  produced  was  of  a  larger  kind  than  they 
had  before  imagined.  And  even  if  this  mechanism  extend 
through  the  solar  system :  if  the  arrangement  by  which  the 
Earth's  atmosphere  is  the  special  region  in  which  there  are 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     DESIGN.  245 

winds  hot  and  cold,  clouds  compact  or  dissolving, — be  an  ar- 
rangement which  extends  its  influence  to  other  planets,  as  well 
as  to  ours ; — if  this  mixed  atmosphere  be  placed,  not  only  at 
the  meeting  point  of  clear  aqueous  vapor  above,  and  warmer 
airs  below,  but  also  at  the  meeting  point  of  a  hot  central 
region  surrounding  the  Sun,  and  a  cold  exterior  zone  in  which 
water  and  vapor  can  exist  in  immense  collected  masses,  such 
as  are  Jupiter  and  Saturn ; — still  it  would  not  appear,  to  a 
reasonable  view,  that  this  larger  expansion  of  the  machinery 
by  which  the  effect  is  produced,  makes  the  machinery  less  re- 
markable ;  or  can  at  all  tend  to  diminish  the  belief  that  it  was 
intended  to  produce  the  effect  which  it  does  produce.  Hot  and 
cold,  moist  and  dry,  are  constantly  mixed  together  for  the  sup- 
port of  vegetable  and  animal  life ;  and  not  the  less  so,  if  we  be- 
lieve that,  though  elements  of  this  kind  pervade  the  whole 
solar  system,  it  is  only  at  the  Earth  that  they  are  combined 
so  as  to  foster  and  nourish  living  things. 

7.  But  it  will  perhaps  be  said,  that  to  suppose  the  whole 
Solar  System  to  be  a  machine  merely  operating  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Earth  and  its  population,  is  to  give  to  the  Earth  and  its 
population  an  importance  in  the  scheme  of  creation  which  is 
quite  extravagant  and  improbable : — it  is  to  make  the  greater 
orbs,  Jupiter  and  Saturn,  nainister  to  the  less ;  instead  of  hav- 
ing their  own  purpose,  and  their  own  population,  which  their 
size  naturally  leads  us  to  expect.  To  this  we  reply,  that,  in 
the  first  place,  we  have  shown  good  reason  for  believing  that 
the  Earth  is  really  the  largest  dense  solid  globe  which  exists  in 
the  solar  system,  and  that  the  size  of  Jupiter  and  Saturn  arises 
from  their  being  composed  mainly  of  water  and  vapor.  And 
with  regard  to  the  difficulty  of  the  greater  ministering  to  the 
less  ; — if  by  greater^  mere  size  and  extent  be  understood,  it  ap- 
pears to  be  the  universal  law  of  creation,  that  the  greater,  in 


246  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

that  sense,  should  minister  to  the  less,  when  the  less  includes 
living  things.  Even  if  the  planets  be  all  inhabited,  the  sun, 
which  is  greater  far  than  all  of  them  together,  ministers  light 
and  heat  to  all  of  them.  Even  on  this  supposition,  the  vast 
spaces  by  which  the  planets  are  separated  have  no  use,  that  we 
can  discern,  except  to  place  them  at  suitable  distances  from  the 
sun.  Even  on  this  supposition,  their  solid  globes  within,  their 
atmospheres  without  are  all  merely  subservient  to  the  benefit 
of  a  thin  and  scattered  population  on  the  surface.  The  space 
occupied  by  men  and  animals  on  the  earth's  surface,  even 
taking  into  account  the  highest  buildings  and  the  deepest  seas, 
is  only  a  few  hundreds,  or  a  thousand  feet.  The  benefit  of  this 
minute  shell,  interrupted  in  many  places  for  vast  distances, 
everywhere  loosely  and  sparsely  filled,  is  ministered  to  by  the 
solidity  and  attraction  of  a  mass  below  it  20  millions  of  feet 
deep ;  by  the  influence  of  an  atmosphere  above  it  200  thou- 
sand feet  high  at  least,  and  it  may  be,  much  more.  And  this 
being  so,  if  we  increase  the  depth  of  the  centre  20  thousand 
times  ;  if  we  carry  the  extreme  verge  of  air  and  vapor  to  thirty 
times  the  radius  of  the  earth's  orbit  from  us,  how  does  the  con- 
struction of  the  machine  become  more  improbable,  or  the  dis- 
proportion of  its  size  to  its  purpose  more  incongruous  1  Is  mere 
size, — extent  of  brute  matter  or  blank  space, — so  majestic  a 
thing  1  Is  not  infinite  space  large  enough  to  admit  of  machines 
of  any  size  without  grudging  %  But  if  we  thus  move  the  centre 
of  the  Earth's  peopled  surface  20  thousand  times  further  off, 
we  reach  the  Sun.  If  we  carry  the  limit  of  air  and  vapor  to 
the  distance  of  30  times  the  radius  of  the  Earth's  orbit  we 
arrive  at  Neptune.  Are  these  new  numbers  monstrous,  while 
the  old  ones  were  accepted  without  scruple  1  Is  number  such 
an  alarming  feature  in  the  description  of  the  Universe  ?  Does 
aot  the  description  of  every  part  and  every  aspect  of  it,  present 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM    DESIGN.  247 

US  with  numbers  so  large,  that  wonder  and  repugnance,  on  that 
sround  are  long  ago  exhausted  ?  Surely  this  is  so  :  and  if  the 
evidence  really  tend  to  prove  to  us  that  all  the  solar  system 
ministers  to  the  earth's  population ;  the  mere  size  of  the 
system,  compared  with  the  space  occupied  by  the  population, 
will  not  long  stand  in  the  way  of  the  reception  of  such  a  doctrine. 

8.  But  the  objection  will  perhaps  be  urged  in  another  form. 
It  will  be  said  that  the  other  Planets  have  so  many  points  of 
resemblance  with  the  Earth,  that  we  must  suppose  their  nature 
and  purpose  the  same.  They,  like  the  Earth,  revolve  in  circles 
round  the  sun,  rotate  on  their  own  axes,  have,  several  of  them, 
satellites,  are  opaque  bodies,  deriving  light  and  probably  heat 
from  the  sun.  To  an  external  spectator  of  the  Solar  System, 
they  would  not  be  distinguishable  from  the  Earth.  Such  a 
spectator  would  never  be  tempted  to  guess  that  the  Earth  alone, 
of  all  these,  neither  the  greatest  nor  the  least,  neither  the  one 
with  the  most  satellites,  nor  the  fewest,  neither  the  innermost 
nor  the  outermost  of  the  planets,  is  the  only  one  inhabited  ;  or 
at  any  rate  the  only  one  inhabited  by  an  intelligent  population. 
And  to  this  we  reply ;  that  the  largest  of  the  other  planets,  if 
we  judge  rightly,  are  not  like  the  Earth  in  one  most  essential 
respect,  their  density  ;  and  none  of  them,  in  having  a  surface 
consisting  of  land  and  water ;  except  perhaps  Mars :  that  if 
the  supposed  external  spectator  could  see  that  this  was  so,  he 
might  see  that  the  earth  was  different  from  the  rest ;  and  he 
might  be  able  to  see  the  vaporous  nature  of  the  outer  planets, 
so  that  he  would  no  more  think  of  peopling  them,  than  we  do, 
of  peopling  the  grand  Alpine  ridges  and  vallies  which  we  see 
in  the  clouds  of  a  summer-sky. 

9.  But  even  if  the  supposed  spectator  attended  only  to  the 
obvious  and  superficial  resemblances  between  one  of  the  plan- 
ets and  another,  he  might  still,  if  he  were  acquainted  with  the 


248  THE     PLURALITY    OF    WOULDS. 

general  economy  of  the  Universe,  have  great  hesitation  in  in- 
ferring that,  if  one  of  them  were  inhabited,  the  others  also 
must  be  inhabited.  For,  as  we  have  said,  in  the  plan  of  crea- 
tion, we  have  a  profusion  of  examples,  where  similar  visible 
structures  do  not  answer  a  similar  purpose  ;  where,  so  far  as 
we  can  see,  the  structure  answers  no  purpose  in  many  cases  ; 
but  exists,  as  we  may  say,  for  the  sake  of  similarity :  the  sim- 
ilarity being  a  general  Law,  the  result,  it  would  seem,  of  a 
creative  energy,  which  is  wider  in  its  operation  than  the  partic- 
ular purpose.  Such  examples  are,  as  we  have  said,  the  finger- 
bones  which  are  packed  into  the  hoofs  of  a  horse,  or  the  paps 
and  nipples  of  a  male  animal.  Now  the  spectator,  recollecting 
such  cases  might  say  :  I  know  that  the  earth  is  inhabited ;  no 
doubt  Mars  and  Jupiter  are  a  good  deal  like  the  Earth ;  but 
are  they  inhabited  1  They  look  like  the  terrestrial  breast  of 
Nature  :  but  are  they  really  nursing  breasts  *?  Do  they,  like 
that,  give  food  to  living  offspring  1  Or  are  they  mere  images  of 
such  breasts  ?  male  teats,  dry  of  all  nutritive  power  1  sports,  or 
rather  overworks  of  nature  ;  marks  of  a  wider  law  than  the 
needs  of  Mother  Earth  require  1  many  sketches  of  a  design, 
of  which  only  one  was  to  be  executed  *?  many  specimens  of 
the  preparatory  process  of  making  a  Planet,  of  which  only 
one  was  to  be  carried  out  into  the  making  of  a  World  '?  Such 
questions  might  naturally  occur  to  a  person  acquainted  with 
the  course  of  creation  in  general ;  even  before  he  remarked  the 
features  which  tend  to  show  that  Jupiter  and  Saturn,  that  Venus 
and  Mercury,  have  not  been  developed  into  peopled  worlds, 
like  our  Earth. 

10.  Perhaps  it  may  be  said,  that  to  hold  this,  is  to  make  Na- 
ture work  in  vain ;  to  waste  her  powe:  s ;  to  suppose  her  to 
produce  the  frame  work,  and  not  to  build ;  to  make  the  skele- 
ton and  not  to  clothe  it  with  living  flesh ;  to  delude  us  with 


THE     ARGUMENT    FROM     DESIGN.  249 

appearances  of  analogy  and  promises  of  fertility,  which  are 
fallacious.     What  can  we  reply  to  this  ? 

11.  We  reply,  that  to  work  in  vain,  in  the  sense  of  produc- 
ing means  of  life  which  are  not  used,  embryos  which  are  never 
vivified,  germs  which  are  not  developed ;  is  so  far  from  being 
contrary  to  the  usual  proceedings  of  nature,  that  it  is  an  ope- 
ration which  is  constantly  going  on,  in  every  part  of  nature. 
Of  the  vegetable  seeds  which  are  produced,  what  an  infinitely 
small  proportion  ever  grow  into  plants  !  Of  animal  ova,  how 
exceedingly  few  become  animals,  in  proportion  to  those  that  do 
not ;  and  that  are  wasted,  if  this  be  waste !  It  is  an  old  cal- 
culation, which  used  to  be  repeated  as  a  wonderful  thing,  that 
a  single  female  fish  contains  in  its  body  200  millions  of  ova, 
and  thus,  might,  of  itself  alone,  replenish  the  seas,  if  all  these 
were  fostered  inio  life.  But  in  truth,  this,  though  it  may  ex- 
cite wonder,  cannot  excite  wonder  as  anything  uncommon.  It 
is  only  one  example  of  what  occurs  everywhere.  Every  tree, 
every  plant,  produces  innumerable  flowers,  the  flowers  innu- 
merable seeds,  which  drop  to  the  earth,  or  are  carried  abroad 
by  the  winds,  and  perish,  without  having  their  powers  unfolded. 
When  we  see  a  field  of  thistles  shed  its  downy  seeds  upon  the 
wind,  so  that  they  roll  away  like  a  cloud,  what  a  vast  host  of 
possible  thistles  are  there  !  Yet  very  probably  none  of  them 
become  actual  thistles.  Few  are  able  to  take  hold  of  the 
ground  at  all ;  and  those  that  do,  die  for  lack  of  congenial 
nutriment,  or  are  crushed  by  external  causes  before  they  are 
grown.     The  like  is  the  case  with  every  tribe  of  plants.*     The 

*  Every  reader  of  physiological  works  knows  how  easy  it  would  be 
to  nmltiply  examples  of  this  kind  to  any  extent.  Thus  it  is  held  by 
physiologists,  that  the  sporules  of  fungi  are  universally  diffused 
through  the  atmosphere,  ready  to  vegetate  whenever  an  opportunity 
presents  itself  :  and  that  a  single  individual  produces  not  less  than  ten 
millions  of  germs.     It  is  held  also  that  innumerable  seeds  of  plants 

11* 


250  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

like  with  every  tribe  of  animals.  The  possible  fertility  of 
some  kinds  of  insects  is  as  portentous  as  anything  of  this  kind 
can  be.  If  allowed  to  proceed  unchecked,  if  the  possible  life 
were  not  perpetually  extinguished,  the  multiplying  energies 
perpetually  frustrated,  they  would  gain  dominion  over  the  larg- 
est animals,  and  occupy  the  earth.  And  the  same  is  the  case, 
in  different  degrees,  in  the  larger  animals.  The  female  is 
stocked  with  innumerable  ovules,  capable  of  becoming  living 
things :  of  which  incomparably  the  greatest  number  end  as 
they  began,  mere  ovules ; — marks  of  mere  possibility,  of  vi- 
tality frustrated.  The  universe  is  so  full  of  such  rudiments  of 
things,  that  they  far  outnumber  the  things  which  outgrow  their 
rudiments.  The  marks  of  possibility  are  much  more  nume- 
rous than  the  tale  of  actuality.  The  vitality  which  is  frustrated 
is  far  more  copious  than  the  vitality  which  is  consummated. 
So  far,  then,  as  this  analogy  goes,  if  the  earth  alone,  of  all  the 
planetary  harvest,  has  been  a  fertile  seed  of  creation ; — if  the 
terrestrial  embryo  have  alone  been  evolved  into  life,  while  all 
the  other  masses  have  remained  barren  and  dead : — we  have, 
in  this,  nothing  which  we  need  regard  as  an  unprecedented 
waste,  an  improbable  prodigality,  an  unusual  failure  in  the  op- 
erations of  nature  :  but  on  the  contrary,  such  a  single  case  of 
success  among  many  of  failure,  is  exactly  the  order  of  nature 
in  the  production  of  life.  It  is  quite  agreeable  to  analogy,  that 
the  Solar  System,  of  which  the  flowers  are  not  many,  should 
have  borne  but  one  fertile  flower.  One  in  eight,  or  in  twice 
eight,  reared  into  such  wondrous  fertility  as  belongs  to  the 
Earth,  is  an  abundant  produce,  compared  with  the  result  in  the 
most  fertile  provinces  of  Nature.     And  even  if  any  number 

still  capable  of  vegetation,  lie  in  strata  far  below  the  earth's  surface, 
finding  the  occasion  to  vegetate  only  by  the  rarest  and  most  excep- 
tional occurrences. — Carpenter,  Manual  of  Phy&iology.     1851,  Art.  44. 


THE    ARGUMENT     FROM     DESIGN.  25] 

of  the  Fixed  Stars  were  also  found  to  be  barren  flowers  of  the 
sky  ;  objects,  however  beautiful,  yet  not  sources  of  life  or  de- 
velopment, we  need  not  think  the  powers  of  creation  wasted 
or  frustrated,  thrown  away  or  perverted.  One  such  fertile  re- 
sult as  the  Earth,  with  all  its  hosts  of  plants  and  animals,  and 
especially  with  Man,  an  intelligent  being,  to  stand  at  the  head 
of  those  hosts,  is  a  worthy  and  sufficient  produce,  so  far  as  we 
can  judge  of  the  Creator's  ways  by  analogy,  of  all  the  Univer>. 
sal  Scheme. 

12.  But  when  we  follow  this  analogy,  so  far  as  to  speak  of 
the  mere  material  mass  of  a  planet  as  an  embryo  world ; — a 
barren  flower ; — a  seed  which  has  never  been  developed  into  a 
plant ; — we  are  in  danger  of  allowing  the  analogy  to  mislead 
us.  For  a  planet,  as  to  its  brute  mass,  has  really  nothing  in 
common  with  a  seed  or  an  embryo.  It  has  no  organization, 
or  tendency  to  organization ;  no  principle  of  life,  however  ob- 
scure. So  far  as  we  can  judge,  no  progress  of  time,  or  opera- 
tion of  mere  natural  influence,  would  clothe  a  brute  mass  with 
vegetables,  or  stock  it  with  animals.  No  species  of  living 
thing  would  have  its  place  upon  the  surface,  by  the  mere  order 
of  unintelligent  nature.  So  much  is  this  so,  according  to  all 
that  our  best  knowledge  teaches,  that  those  geologists  who 
must  most  have  desired,  for  the  sake  of  giving  completeness 
and  consistency  to  their  systems,  to  make  the  production  of 
vegetable  and  animal  species  from  brute  matter,  a  part  of  the 
order  of  nature,  (inasmuch  as  they  have  explained  everything 
else  by  the  order  of  nature,)  have  not  ventured  to  do  so.  They 
allow,  generally  at  least,  each  separate  species  to  require  a 
special  act  of  creative  power,  to  bring  it  into  being.  They 
make  the  peopling  of  the  earth,  with  its  successive  races  of  in- 
habitants, a  series  of  events  altogether  different  from  the  ope- 
ration of  physical  laws  in  the  sustentation  of  existing  species. 


252  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

The  creation  of  life  is,  they  allow,  something  out  of  the  range 
of  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature.  And  therefore,  when  we  speak 
of  uninhabited  planets,  as  cases  in  which  vital  tendencies  have 
been  defeated  ;  in  which  their  apparent  destiny,  as  worlds  of 
life,  has  been  frustrated ;  we  really  do  injustice  to  our  argu- 
ment. The  planets  had  no  vital  tendencies  :  they  could  have 
had  such  given,  only  by  an  additional  act,  or  a  series  of  ad- 
ditional acts,  of  Creative  power.  As  mere  inert  globes,  they 
had  no  settled  destiny  to  be  seats  of  life :  they  could  have  such 
a  destiny,  only  by  the  appointment  of  Him  who  creates  living 
things,  and  puts  them  in  the  places  which  he  chooses  for  them. 
If,  when  a  planetary  mass  had  come  into  being,  (in  virtue  of 
the  same  general  physical  law,  suppose,  which  produced  the 
earth,)  the  Creator  placed  a  host  of  living  things  upon  the  earth, 
and  none  upon  the  other  planet ;  there  was  still  no  violation 
of  analogy,  no  seeming  change  of  purpose,  no  unfinished  plan. 
In  the  solar  system,  we  can  see  what  seem  to  be  good  reasons 
why  he  did  this ;  but  if  we  could  not  see  such  reasons,  still  we 
should  be  yet  further  from  being  able  to  see  reasons  why  he 
necessarily  must  place  inhabitants  upon  the  other  planet. 

.13.  It  is  sometimes  said,  that  it  is  agreeable  to  the  goodness 
of  God,  that  all  parts  of  the  creation  should  swarm  with  life ; 
that  life  is  enjoyment ;  and  that  the  benevolence  of  the  Su- 
preme Being  is  shown  in  the, diffusion  of  such  enjoyment  into 
every  quarter  of  the  universe.  To  leave  a  planet  without  in- 
habitants, would,  it  is  thought,  be  to  throw  away  an  opportun- 
ity of  producing  happiness.  Now  we  shall  not  here  dwell 
upon  the  consideration,  that  the  enjoyment  thus  spoken  of,  is, 
in  a  great  degree,  the  enjoyment  which  the  mere  life  of  the 
lower  tribes  of  animals  implies ; — the  enjoyment  of  madrepores 
an-d  oysters,  cuttle-fish  and  sharks,  tortoises  and  serpents ;  but 
we  reply  more  broadly,  that  it  is  not  the  rule  followed  by  the 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     DESIGN.  253 

Creator,  to  fill  all  places  with  living  things.  To  say  nothing  of 
the  vast  intervals  between  planet  and  planet,  which,  it  is  pre- 
sumed, no  one  supposes  to  be  occupied  by  living  things  ;  how 
large  a  portion  of  the  surface  of  the  earth  is  uninhabited,  or 
inhabited  only  in  the  scantiest  manner.  Vast  desert  tracts  ex- 
ist in  Africa  and  in  Asia,  where  the  barren  sand  nourishes 
neither  animal  nor  vegetable  life.  The  highest  regions  of 
mountain-ranges,  clothed  with  perpetual  snow,  and  with  far- 
reaching  sheets  of  glacier  ice,  are  untenanted,  except  by  the 
chamois  at  their  outskirts.  There  are  many  uninhabited 
islands  ;  and  were  formerly  many  more.  The  ocean,  covering 
nearly  three-fourths  of  the  globe,  is  no  seat  of  habitation  for 
land  animals  or  for  man ;  and  though  it  has  a  large  population 
of  the  fishy  tribes,  is  probably  peopled  in  smaller  numbers 
than  if  it  were  land,  as  well  as  by  inferior  orders.  We  see, 
in  the  Earth  then,  which  is  the  only  seat  of  life  of  which  we 
really  know  anything,  nothing  to  support  the  belief  that  every 
field  in  the  material  universe  is  tenanted  by  living  inhabitants. 
14.  That  vegetables  and  animals,  being  once  placed  upon  the 
earth,  have  multiplied  or  are  multiplying,  so  as  to  occupy  every 
part  of  the  land  and  water  which  is  suited  for  their  habitation, 
we  can  see  much  reason  to  believe.  Philosophical  natural-his- 
orians  have  been  generally  led  to  the  conviction  that  each 
species  has  had  an  original  centre  of  dispersion,  where  it  was 
first  native,  and  that  from  this  centre  it  has  been  diffused  in  all 
directions,  as  far  as  the  circumstances  of  climate  and  soil  were 
favorable  to  its  production.  But  we  can  see  also  much  reason 
to  believe  that  this  general  difiusion  of  vegetable  and  animal 
life  from  centres,  is  a  part  of  the  order  of  nature  which  may 
often  be  made  to  give  way  to  other  and  higher  purposes  ; — to 
the  diffusion,  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  earth,  of  a  race  of 
intelligent,  moral  agents.     This  process  may  often  interfere 


254  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

with  the  general  law  of  difRision  :  as  for  instance,  when  man 
exterminates  noxious  animals.  And  whatever  may  be  the  laws 
which  tend  to  replenish  the  earth,  on  which  such  centres  of  the 
diffusion  of  life  exist  for  animals  and  plants  ;  according  to  all 
analogy,  these  laws  can  have  no  force  on  any  other  planet,  till 
such  origins  and  centres  of  life  are  established  on  their  sur- 
faces. And  even  if  any  of  the  species  which  have  ever  ten- 
anted the  earth  were  so  established  on  any  other  planet,  we 
have  the  strongest  reason  to  believe  that  they  could  not  sur- 
vive to  a  second  generation. 

15.  Perhaps  it  may  be  said  that  we  unjustifiably  limit  the 
power  and  skill  of  the  Supreme  Creator,  if  we  deny  that  he 
could  frame  creatures  fitted  to  live  on  any  of  the  other  plan- 
ets, as  well  as  in  the  Earth : — that  the  wonderful  variety,  and 
unexpected  resource,  of  the  ways  in  which  animals  are 
adapted  for  all  kinds  of  climates,  habitations,  and  conditions, 
upon  the  earth,  may  give  us  confidence  that,  under  conditions 
still  more  extended,  in  habitations  still  further  removed,  in 
climates  going  beyond  the  terrestrial  extremes,  still  the  same 
wisdom  and  skill  may  well  be  supposed  to  have  devised  pos- 
sible modes  of  animal  life. 

16.  To  this  we  reply,  that  we  are  so  far  from  saying  that 
the  Creator  could  not  place  inhabitants  in  the  other  planets, 
that  we  have  attempted  to  show  what  kind  of  inhabitants 
would  be  most  likely  to  be  placed  there,  by  considering  the 
way  in  which  animals  are  accommodated  to  special  conditions 
in  their  habitation.  In  judging  of  such  modes  of  accommo- 
dating animals  to  an  abode  on  other  planets,  as  well  as  the 
earth,  we  have  reasoned  from  what  we  know,  of  the  mode  in 
which  animals  are  accommodated  to  their  different  habitations 
on  the  earth.  We  believe  this  to  be  the  only  safe  and  phi- 
losophical way  of  treating  the  question.     If  we  are  to  reason 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     DESIGN,  255 

at  all  about  the  possibility  of  animal  life,  we  must  suppose 
that  heat  and  light,  gravity  and  buoyancy,  materials  and  affini- 
ties, air  and  moisture,  produce  the  same  effect,  require  the 
same  adaptations,  in  Jupiter  or  in  Venus,  as  they  do  on  the 
Earth.  If  we  do  not  suppose  this,  we  run  into  the  error 
which  so  long  prevented  many  from  accepting  the  Newtonian 
system  : — the  error  of  thinking  that  matter  in  the  heavens  is 
governed  by  quite  different  laws  from  matter  on  the  earth. 
We  must  adopt  that  belief,  if  we  hold  that  animals  may  live 
under  relations  of  heat  and  moisture,  materials  and  affinities, 
in  Jupiter  or  Venus,  under  which  they  could  not  live  on  our 
planet.  And  that  belief,  as  we  have  said,  appears  to  us  con- 
trary to  all  the  teaching  which  the  history  of  science  offers  us. 
17.  And  not  only  is  it  contrary  to  the  teaching  of  the  his- 
tory of  science,  to  suppose  the  laws,  which  connect  elemental 
and  organic  nature,  to  be  different  in  the  other  planets  from 
what  they  are  on  ours ;  but  moreover  the  supposition  would 
not  at  all  answer  the  purpose,  of  making  it  probable  that  the 
planets  are  inhabited.  For  if  we  begin  to  imagine  new  and 
unknown  laws  of  nature  for  those  abodes,  what  is  there  to 
limit  or  determine  our  assumptions  in  any  degree  ?  What 
extravagant  mixtures  of  the  attributes  and  properties  of  mind 
and  matter  may  we  not  then  accept  as  probable  truths  ?  We 
know  how  difficult  the  poets  have  found  it  to  describe,  with 
any  degree  of  consistency,  the  actions  and  events  of  a  world 
of  angels,  or  of  evil  spirits,  souls  or  shades,  embodied  in  forms 
so  as  to  admit  of  description,  and  yet  not  subject  to  the 
laws  of  human  bodies.  Virgil,  Tasso,  Milton,  Klopstock,  and 
many  others,  have  struggled  with  this  difficulty : — no  one  of 
them,  it  will  be  probably  agreed,  with  any  great  success ;  at 
least,  regarding  his  representation  as  a  hypothesis  of  a  pos- 
sible form  of  life,  different  from  all  the  forms  which  we  know, 


256  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

Yet  if  we  are  to  reject  the  laws  which  govern  the  known 
forms  of  life,  in  order  that  we  may  be  able  to  maintain  the 
possibility  of  some  unknown  form  in  a  different  planet,  we 
must  accept  some  of  these  hypotheses,  or  find  a  better.  We 
must  suppose  that  weight  and  cohesion,  wounds  and  mutila- 
tions, wings  and  plumage,  would  have,  either  the  effect  which 
the  poets  represent  them  as  having,  or  some  different  effect : 
and  in  either  case  it  will  be  impossible  to  give  any  sufficient 
reason  why  we  should  confine  the  population  to  the  surface 
of  a  planet.  If  gravity  have  not,  upon  any  set  of  beings,  the 
effect  which  it  has  upon  us,  such  beings  may  live  upon  the 
surface  of  Saturn,  though  it  be  mere  vapor  :  but  then,  on  that 
supposition,  they  may  equally  well  live  in  the  vast  space  be- 
tween Saturn  and  Jupiter,  without  needing  any  planet  for  their 
mansion.  If  we  are  ready  to  suppose  that  there  are,  in  the 
solar  system,  conscious  beings,  not  subject  to  the  ordinary 
laws  of  life,  we  may  go  on  to  imagine  creatures  constituted  of 
vaporous  elements,  floating  in  the  fiery  haze  of  a  nebula,  or 
close  to  the  body  of  a  sun ;  and  cloudy  forms  which  soar  as 
vapors  in  the  region  of  vapor.  But  such  imaginations,  be- 
sides being  rather  fitted  for  the  employment  of  poets  than  of 
philosophers,  will  not,  as  we  have  said,  find  a  population  for 
the  planets  ;  since  such  forms  may  just  as  easily  be  conceived 
swimming  round  the  sun  in  empty  space,  or  darting  from  star 
to  star,  as  confining  themselves  to  the  neighborhood  of  any 
of  the  solid  globes  which  revolve  about  the  central  sun. 

18.  We  should  not,  then  add  anything  to  the  probability 
of  inhabitants  on  the  other  planets  of  our  system,  even  if  we 
were  arbitrarily  to  assume  unlimited  changes  in  the  laws  of 
nature,  when  we  pass  from  our  region  to  theirs.  But  prob- 
ably, all  readers  will  be  of  opinion  that  such  assumptions  are 
contrary  to  the  whole  scheme  and  spirit  of  such  speculations 


THE    ARGUMENT    FROM    DESIGN.  257 

as  we  are  here  presuming :— that  if  we  speculate  on  such  sub- 
jects at  all,  it  must  be  done  by  supposing  that  the  same  laws 
of  nature  operate  in  the  same  manner,  in  planetary,  as  in  ter- 
restrial spaces  ; — and  that  as  we  suppose,  and  prove,  gravity 
and  attraction,  inertia  and  momentum,  to  follow  the  same 
rules,  and  produce  the  same  effects,  on  brute  matter  there, 
which  they  do  here  ;  so,  both  these  forces,  and  others,  as  light 
and  heat,  moisture  and  air,  if,  in  the  planets,  they  go  beyond 
the  extremes  which  limit  them,  here,  yet  must  imply,  in  any 
organized  beings  which  exist  in  the  planets,  changes,  though 
greater  in  amount,  of  the  same  kind  as  those  which  occur  in 
approaching  the  terrestrial  extremes  of  those  elementary 
agents.  And  what  kind  of  a  population  that  would  lead  us  to 
suppose  in  Jupiter  or  Saturn,  Mars  or  Venus,  the  reader  has 
already  seen  our  attempt  to  determine ;  and  may  thence  judge 
whether,  when  we  go  so  far  beyond  the  terrestrial  extremes  of 
heat  and  cold,  light  and  dimness,  vapor  and  water,  air  and 
airlessness,  any  population  at  all  is  probable. 

19.  Perhaps  some  persons,  even  if  they  cannot  resist  the 
force  of  these  reasons,  may  still  yield  to  them  with  regret ; 
and  may  feel  as  if,  having  hitherto  believed  that  the  planets 
were  inhabited,  and  having  now  to  give  up  that  belief,  their 
view  of  the  solar  system,  as  one  of  the  provinces  of  God's 
creation,  were  made  narrower  and  poorer  than  it  was  before. 
And  this  feeling  may  be  still  further  increased,  if  they  are  led 
to  believe  also  that  many  of  the  fixed  stars  are  not  the  centres 
of  inhabited  systems  ;  or  that  very  few,  or  none  are.  It  may 
seem  to  them,  as  if,  by  such  a  change  of  belief,  the  field  of 
God's  greatness,  benevolence,  and  government,  were  narrowed 
and  impoverished,  to  an  extent  painful  and  shocking  ; — as  if, 
instead  of  being  the  Maker  and  Governor  of  innumerable 
worlds,  of  the  most  varied  constitution,  we  were  called  upon  to 


258  THE    PLURALITY    OF    WORLDS. 

regard  him  as  merely  the  Master  of  the  single  world  in  ■which 
we  live : — as  if,  instead  of  being  the  object  of  reverence  and 
adoration  to  the  intelligent  population  of  these  thousand 
spheres,  he  was  recognized  and  worshipped  on  one  only,  and 
on  that,  how  scantily  and  imperfectly  ! 

20.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  there  may  be  such  a  regret 
and  disturbance  naturally  felt,  at  having  to  give  up  our  belief 
that  the  planets  and  the  stars  probably  contain  servants  and 
worshippers  of  God.  It  must  always  be  a  matter  of  pain  and 
trouble,  to  be  urged  with  tenderness,  and  to  be  performed  in 
time,  to  untwine  our  reverential  religious  sentiments  from  er- 
roneous views  of  the  constitution  of  the  universe  with  which 
they  have  been  involved.  But  the  change  once  made,  it  is 
found  that  religion  is  uninjured,  and  reverence  undiminished. 
And  therefore  we  trust  that  the  reader  will  receive  with  can- 
dor and  patience  the  argument  which  we  have  to  offer  with 
reference  to  this  view,  or  rather,  this  sentiment. 

21.  We  remark,  in  the  first  place,  that  however  repugnant 
it  may  be  to  us  to  believe  a  state  of  any  part  of  the  universe 
in  which  there  are^not  creatures  who  can  know,  obey  and  wor- 
ship God ;  we  are  compelled,  by  geological  evidence,  to  admit 
that  such  a  state  of  things  has  existed  upon  the  earth,  during  a 
far  longer  period  than  the  whole  duration  of  man's  race.  If 
we  sup230se  that  the  human  race,  if  not  by  their  actual  knowl- 
edge, obedience,  and  worship  of  God,  yet  at  least  by  their 
faculties  for  knowing,  obeying,  and  worshipping,  are  a  suffici- 
ent reason  why  there  should  be  such  a  province  in  God's 
empire ;  still  in  fact,  this  race  has  existed  only  for  a  few  thou- 
sand years,  out  of  the,  perhaps,  millions  of  years  of  the  earth's 
existence ;  and  during  all  the  previous  period,  the  earth,  if 
tenanted,  was  tenanted  by  brute  creatures,  fishes  and  lizards, 
beasts  and  birds,  of  which  none  had  any  faculty,  intellectual, 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM    DESIGN".  259 

moral,  or  religious.  By  the  same  analogy,  therefore,  on  which 
we  have  already  insisted,  we  may  argue  that  there  is  reason 
to  believe,  that  if  other  planets,  and  other  stars,  are  the  seats  of 
habitation,  it  is  rather  of  such  habitation  as  has  prevailed  upon  the 
earth  during  the  millions,  than  during  the  six  thousand  years ;  and 
that  if  we  have,  in  consequence  of  physical  reasons,  to  give  up  the 
belief  of  a  population  in  the  other  planets,  or  in  the  stars  ;  we  are 
giving  up,  not  anything  with  which  we  might  dwell  with  religi- 
ous pleasure — hosts  of  fellow-servants  and  fellow-worshippers  of 
the  Divine  Author  of  all : — but  the  mere  brute  tribes,  of  the 
land  and  of  the  water,  things  that  creep  and  crawl,  prowl  and 
spring ; — none  that  can  lift  its  visage  to  the  sky,  with  a  feel- 
ing that  it  is  looking  for  its  Maker  and  Master.  There  have 
not  existed  upon  the  Earth,  during  the  immense  ages  of  its 
prfehuman  existence,  beings  who  could  recognize  and  think 
of  the  Creator  of  the  world :  and  if  astronomy  introduces  us, 
as  geology  has  done,  to  a  new  order  of  material  structures, 
thus  barren  of  an  intelligent  and  religious  population,  we  must 
learn  to  accept  the  prospect,  in  the  one  case,  as  in  the  other. 
Nor  need  we  fear  that  on  a  further  contemplation  of  the  uni- 
verse, we  shall  find  every  part  of  it  ministering,  though  perhaps 
not  in  the  way  our  first  thoughts  had  guessed,  to  sentiments 
of  reverence  and  adoration  towards  the  Maker  of  the  universe. 
22.  The  truth  is,  as  the  slightest  recollection  of  the  course 
of  opinion  about  the  stars  may  satisfy  us,  that  men  have  had 
repeatedly  to  give  up  the  notions  which  they  had  adopted,  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  material  heavens,  the  stars  and  the 
skies,  are  to  minister  to  man's  feeling  of  reverence  for  the 
Creator.  It  was  long  ago  said,  that  the  heavens  declare  the 
glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  showeth  his  handiwork : 
that  day  and  night,  sun  and  moon,  clouds  and  stars,  unite  m 
impressing  upon  us  this  sentiment.     And  this  language  still 


260  THE    PLURALITY    OF    WORLDS. 

finds  a  sympathetic  echo,  in  the  breasts  of  all  religious  per 
sons.  Nor  will  it  ever  cease  to  do  so,  however  our  opinions 
of  the  structure  and  nature  of  the  heavenly  bodies  may  alter. 
When  the  new  aspects  of  things  become  familiar,  they  will 
show  us  the  handiwork  of  God,  and  declare  his  glory,  as 
plainly  as  the  old  ones.  But  in  the  progress  of  opinions,  man 
has  often  had  to  resign  what  seemed  to  him,  at  the  time, 
visions  so  beautiful,  sublime,  and  glorious,  that  they  could  not 
be  dismissed  without  regret.  The  Universal  Lord  was  at  one 
time  conceived  as  directing  the  motions  of  all  the  spheres  by 
means  of  Ruling  Angels,  appointed  to  preside  over  each.  The 
prevalence  of  proportion  and  number,  in  the  dimensions  of 
these  spheres,  was  assumed  to  point  to  the  existence  of  har- 
monious sounds,  accompanying  their  movements,  though  un- 
heard by  man  ;  as  proportion  and  number  had  been  found  to 
be  the  accompaniments  and  conditions  of  harmony  upon  earth. 
The  time  came,  when  these  opinions  were  no  longer  consistent 
with  man's  knowledge  of  the  heavenly  motions,  and  of  the 
wide-spreading  causes  by  which  they  are  produced.  Then 
"  Ruling  Angels  from  their  spheres  were  hurled,"  as  a  matter 
of  belief;  though  still  the  poets  loved  to  refer  to  imagery  in 
which  so  many  lofty  and  reverent  thoughts  had  so  long  been 
clothed.  The  aspect  of  the  stars  was  most  naturally  turned 
to  a  lesson  of  cheerful  and  thoughtful  piety,  by  the  adoption 
of  such  a  view  of  their  nature  and  office  ;  and  thus,  the  mid- 
night contemplator  of  an  Italian  sky  teaches  his  companion 
concerning  the  starry  host ; 

Sit,  Jessica  ;  look  how  tlie  floor  of  lieav'n 
Is  thick  inlaid  with  patterns  of  bright  gold. 
There's  not  the  meanest  orb,  which  thou  behold'st, 
But  in  his  motion  like  an  angel  sings. 
Still  quiring  to  the  young-eyed  cherubims; 
Suclf  harmony  is  in  immortal  souls. 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     DESIGN.  261 

Meaning,  apparently,  the  harmony  between  the  immortal  spir- 
its that  govern  each  star,  and  the  cherubims  that  sing  before 
the  throne  of  God.  But  however  beautiful  and  sublime  may 
be  this  representation,  the  philosopher  has  had  to  abandon  it 
in  its  literal  sense.  He  may  have  adopted,  instead,  the  opin- 
ion that  each  of  the  stars  is  the  seat,  or  the  centre  of  a  group 
of  seats,  of  choirs  of  worshippers ;  but  this  again,  is  still  to 
suppose  the  nature  of  those  orbs  to  be  entirely  different  from 
that  of  this  earth ;  though  in  many  respects,  we  know  that 
they  are  governed  by  the  same  laws.  And  if  he  will  be  con- 
tent to  know  no  more  than  he  has  the  means  of  knowing,  or 
even  to  know  only  according  to  his  best  means  of  knowing,  he 
must  be  prepared,  if  the  force  of  proof  so  requires,  to  give  up 
this  belief  also  ;  at  least  for  the  present. 

23.  Indeed,  those  who  have  not  been  content  with  this,  and 
have  sought  to  combine  with  the  visible  splendor  of  the  skies, 
some  scheme,  founded  upon  astronomical  views,  which  shall 
people  them  with  intelligent  beings  and  worshippers,  have 
drawn  upon  their  fancy  quite  as  much  as  Lorenzo  in  his  lesson 
to  Jessica ;  or  rather,  they  have  done  what  he  and  those  from 
whom  his  love  was  derived,  had  done  before.  They  have 
taken  the  truths  which  astronomers  have  discovered  and  taught, 
and  made  the  objects  and  regions  so  revealed,  the  scenes  and 
occasions  of  such  sentiments  of  piety  as  they  themselves  have, 
or  feel  that  they  ought  to  have.  Even  in  Shakspeare,  the 
stars  are  already  orhs^  each  orb  has  his  motion,  and  in  his  mo- 
tion produces  the  music  of  the  spheres.  More  recent  preach- 
ers, following  sounder  views  of  the  nature  of  these  orbs  and 
motions,  have  been  equally  poetical  when  they  come  to  their 
religious  reflection.  When  the  poet  of  the  Night  Thoughts  says, 
"  Each  of  these  stars  is  a  religious  house  ; 
I  saw  their  altars  smoke,  their  incense  rise, 
And  heard  hosannas  ring  through  every  sphere." 


262  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

he  is  no  less  imaginative  than  the  poet  of  that  Midsummer 
Nighfs  Dream,  which  we  have  in  the  Merchant  of  Venice. 
And  we  are  compelled,  by  all  the  evidence  which  we  can  dis- 
cern, to  say  the  same  of  the  preacher  who  sj^eaks,  from  the 
pulpit,  of  these  orbs  of  worlds,  and  tells  us  of  the  stars  which 
"  give  animation  to  other  systems*  ;"  when  he  saysf  "  worlds 
roll  in  these  distant  regions ;  and  these  worlds  must  be  the 
centres  of  life  and  intelligence  ;"  when  he  speaks  of  the  earthj 
as  "  the  humblest  of  the  provinces  of  God's  empire."  But 
then  we  must  recollect  that  these  thoughts  still  prove  the  relig- 
ious nature  of  man  ;  they  show  how  he  is  impelled  to  endeavor 
to  elevate  his  mind  to  God  by  every  part  of  the  universe  ;  and 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  through  the  faculties  of  man, 
thus  regarding  the  starry  heavens,  every  star  does  really  testify 
to  the  greatness  of  God,  and  minister  to  His  worship. 

24.  We  may  trust  that  this  mere  material  magnificence 
does  not  require  inhabitants,  to  make  it  lift  man's  heart  towards 
the  Universal  Creator,  and  to  make  him  accept  it  as  a  sublime 
evidence  of  His  greatness.  The  grandest  objects  in  nature  are 
blank  and  void  of  life ; — the  mountain-peaks  that  stand,  ridge 
beyond  ridge,  serene  in  the  region  of  perpetual  snow  ; — the 
summer-clouds,  images  of  such  mountain  tracts,  even  upon  a 
grander  scale,  and  tinted  with  more  gorgeous  colors ; — the 
thunder-cloud  with  its  dazzling  bolt ; — the  stormy  ocean  with 
its  mountainous  waves  ; — the  Aurora  Borealis,  with  its  mysteri- 
ous pillars  of  fire  ; — all  these  are  sublime ;  all  these  elevate  the 
soul,  and  make  it  acknowledge  a  mighty  Worker  in  the  ele- 
ments, in  spite  of  any  teaching  of  a  material  philosophy.  And 
if  we  have  to  regard  the  planets  as  merely  parts  of  the  same 
great  spectacle  of  nature,  we  shall  not  the  less  regard  them  with 
an  admiration  which  ministers  to  pious  awe.     Even  merely  as 

*  CLalmers,  p.  35.  \  Ibid.  p.  21.  %  '^^^^-  P-  119- 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     DESIGN.  263 

a  spectacle,  Saturn  made  visible  in  his  real  shape,  only  by  a 
vast  exertion  of  human  skill,  yet  shining  like  a  star,  in  form 
5o  curiously  complex,  symmetrical  and  seemingly  artificial, 
will  never  cease  to  be  an  object  of  the  ardent  and  contempla- 
tive gaze  of  all  who  catch  a  sight  of  him.  And  however  much 
the  philosopher  may  teach  that  he  is  merely  a  mass  of  water 
and  vapor,  ice  and  snow,  he  must  be  far  more  interesting  to 
the  eye  than  the  Alps,  or  the  clouds  that  crown  them,  or  the 
ocean  with  its  icebergs ;  where  the  same  elements  occur  in  forms 
comparatively  shapeless  and  lawless,  irregular  and  chaotic. 

25.  But  perhaps  there  is  in  the  minds  of  many  persons,  a 
sentiment  connected  with  this  regular  and  symmetrical  form  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  ;  that  being  thus  beautifully  formed  and 
finished  they  must  have  been  the  objects  of  especial  care  to 
the  Creator.  These  regular  globes,  these  nearly  circular  orbits, 
these  families  of  satellites,  they  too  so  regular  in  their  move- 
ments ;  this  ring  of  Saturn ;  all  the  adjustments  by  which  the 
planetary  motions  are  secured  from  going  wrong,  as  the  pro- 
foundest  researches  into  the  mechanics  of  the  universe  show ; 
— all  these  things  seem  to  indicate  a  peculiar  attention  be- 
stowed by  the  Maker  on  each  part  of  the  machine.  So  much 
of  law  and  order,  of  symmetry  and  beauty  in  every  part,  im- 
plies, it  may  be  thought,  that  every  part  has  been  framed  with 
a  view  to  some  use  ; — that  its  symmetry  and  its  beauty  are 
the  marks  of  some  noble  purpose. 

26.  To  reply  to  this  argument,  so  far  as  it  is  requisite  for  us 
to  do  so,  we  must  recur  to  what  we  have  already  said ;  that 
though  we  see  in  many  parts  of  the  universe,  inorganic  as  well 
as  organic,  marks  which  we  cannot  mistake,  of  design  and  pur- 
pose ;  yet  that  this  design  and  purpose  are  often  effected  by 
laws  which  are  of  a  much  wider  sweep  than  the  design,  so  far 
as  we  can  trace  its  bearing.     These  laws,  besides  answering  the 


264  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

purpose,  produce  many  other  effects,  in  which  we  can  see  no 
purpose.  We  have  now  to  observe  further  that  these  laws, 
thus  ranging  widely  through  the  universe,  and  working  every- 
where, as  if  the  Creator  delighted  in  the  generality  of  the  law, 
independently  of  its  special  application,  do  often  produce  in- 
numerable results  of  beauty  and  symmetry,  as  if  the  Creator 
delighted  in  beauty  and  symmetry,  independently  of  the  pur- 
pose answered. 

27.  Thus,  to  exemplify  this  reflection  :  the  powers  of  aggrega- 
tion and  cohesion,  which  hold  together  the  parts  of  solid  bodies, 
as  metals  and  stones,  salts  and  ice, — which  solidify  matter,  in 
short, — we  can  easily  -see,  to  be  necessary,  in  order  to  the  for- 
mation and  preservation  of  solid  terrestrial  bodies.  They  are 
requisite,  in  order  that  man  may  have  the  firm  earth  to  stand 
upon,  and  firm  materials  to  use.  But  let  us  observe,  what  a 
wonderful  and  beautiful  variety  of  phenomena  grows  out  of 
this  law,  with  no  apparent  bearing  upon  that  which  seems  to 
us  its  main  purpose.  The  power  of  aggregation  of  solid  bodies 
is,  in  fact,  the  force  of  crystallization.  It  binds  together  the 
particles  of  bodies  by  molecular  forces,  which  not  only  hold 
the  particles  together,  but  are  exerted  in  special  directions, 
which  form  triangles,  squares,  hexagons,  and  the  like.  And 
hence  we  have  all  the  variety  of  crystalline  forms  which  sparkle 
in  gems,  ores,  earths,  pyrites,  blendes  ;  and  which,  when  ex- 
amined by  the  crystallographers,  are  found  to  be  an  inexhausti- 
ble field  of  the  play  of  symmetrical  complexity.  The  dia- 
mond, the  emerald,  the  topaz,  have  got  each  its  peculiar  kind 
of  symmetry.  Gold  and  other  metals  have,  for  the  basis  of 
their  forms,  the  cube,  but  run  from  this  into  a  vastly  greater 
variety  of  regular  solids  than  ever  geometer  dreamt  of.  Some 
single  species  of  minerals,  as  calc-spar,  present  hundreds  of 
forms,  all  rigorously  regular,  and  have  been  alone  the  subject 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     DESIGN.  265 

of  volumes.  Ice  crystalizes  by  the  same  laws  as  other  solid 
bodies  ;  and  our  Arctic  voyagers  have  sometimes  relieved  the 
weariness  of  their  sojourn  in  those  regions,  by  collecting  some 
of  the  innumerable  forms,  resembling  an  endless  collection  of 
hexagonal  flowers,  sporting  into  different  shapes,  which  are  as- 
sumed by  flakes  of  snow*.  In  these  and  many  other  ways,  the 
power  of  crystallization  produces  an  inexhaustible  supply  of 
examples  of  symmetrical  beauty.  And  what  are  we  to  con- 
ceive to  be  the  object  and  purpose  of  this  1  As  we  have  said, 
that  part  of  the  purpose  which  is  intelligible  to  us  is,  that  we 
have  here  a  force  holding  together  the  particles  of  bodies,  so 
as  to  make  them  solid.  But  all  these  pretty  shapes  add  no- 
thing to  this  intelligible  use.  Why  then  are  they  there  1  Thej 
are  there,  it  would  seem,  for  their  own  sake ; — ^because  they 
are  pretty ; — symmetry  and  beauty  are  there  on  their  own  ac- 
count ;  or  because  they  are  universal  adjuncts  of  the  general 
laws  by  which  the  creator  works.  Or  rather  we  may  say,  com- 
bining different  branches  of  our  knowledge,  that  crystallization 
is  the  mark  and  accompaniment  of  chemical  composition :  and 
that  as  chemical  composition  takes  place  according  to  definite 
numbers,  so  crystaline  aggregation  takes  place  according  to  defi- 
nite forms.  The  symmetrical  relations  of  space  in  crystals  cor- 
respond to  the  simple  relations  of  number  in  synthesis ;  and 
thus,  because  there  is  rule,  there  is  regularity,  and  regularity 
assumes  the  form  of  beauty. 

28.  This,  which  thus  shows  itself  throughout  the  mineral 
kingdom,  or,  speaking  more  widely  and  truly,  throughout  the 
whole  range  of  chemical  composition,  is  still  more  manifest  in 
the  vegetable  domain.     All  the  vast  array  of  flowers,  so   infi- 

*Dr.  Seoresby,  in  his  Account  of  the  Artie  Regions  (1820)  Vol.  11. 
has  given  figures  of  96  such  forms,  selected  for  their  eminent  regu- 
larity from  many  more. 

12 


266  THE    PLURALITY     OF     AVORLDS. 

nitely  various,  and  so  beautiful  in  their  variety,  are  the  results 
of  a  few  general  laws  ;  and  show,  in  the  degree  of  their  sym- 
metry, the  alternate  operation  of  one  law  and  another.  The 
rose,  the  lily,  the  cowslip,  the  violet,  differ  in  something  of  the 
same  way,  in  which  the  crystalline  forms  of  the  several  gems 
differ.  Their  parts  are  arranged  in  fives  or  in  threes,  in  pen- 
tagons or  in  hexagons,  and  in  these  regular  forms,  one  part  or 
another  is  expanded  or  contracted,  rendered  conspicuous  by 
color  or  by  shape,  so  as  to  produce  all  the  multiplicity  of 
beauty  which  the  florist  admires.  Or  rather,  in  the  eye  of  the 
philosophical  botanist,  the  whole  of  the  structure  of  plants, 
with  all  their  array  of  stems  and  leaves,  blossoms  and  fruits, 
is  but  the  manifestation  of  one  Law  ;  and  all  these  members 
of  the  vegetable  form,  are,  in  their  natures,  the  same,  devel- 
oped more  or  less  in  this  way  or  in  that.  The  daisy  consists 
of  a  close  cluster  of  flowers  of  which  each  has,  in  its  form,  the 
rudiments  of  the  valerian.  Tlie  peablossom  is  a  rose,  with 
some  of  its  petals  expanded  into  butterfly-like  wings.  Even 
without  changing  the  species,  this  general  law  leads  to  endless 
changes.  The  garden-rose  is  the  common  hedge-rose  with  in- 
numerable filaments  changed  into  glowing  petals.  By  the  ad- 
dition of  whorl  to  whorl,  of  vegetable  coronet  over  coronet, 
green  and  colored,  broad  and  narrow,  filmy  and  rigid,  every 
plant  is  generated,  and  the  glory  of  the  field  and  of  the  garden, 
of  the  jungle  and  of  the  forest,  is  brought  forth  in  all  its  mag- 
nificence. Here,  then,  we  have  an  immeasurable  wealth  of 
beauty  and  regularity,  brought  to  view  by  the  operation  of  a 
single  law.  And  to  what  use  1  What  purpose  do  these  beau- 
ties answer?  What  is  the  object  for  which  the  lilies  of  the 
field  are  clothed  so  gaily  and  gorgeously  ?  Some  plants,  in- 
deed, are  subservient  to  the  use  of  animals  and  of  man  :  but 
how  small  is  the  number  in  which  we  tan  trace  this,  as  an  in- 


THE     ARGUMENT    FROM     DESIGN.  267 

telligent  purpose  of  their  existence  !  And  does  it  not,  in  fact, 
better  express  the  impression  which  the  survey  of  this  province 
of  nature  suggests  to  us,  to  say,  that  they  grow  because  the 
Creator  willed  that  they  should  grow  ?  Their  vegetable  life 
was  an  object  of  His  care  and  contrivance,  as  well  as  animal  and 
human  life.  And  they  are  beautiful,  also  because  He  willed 
that  they  should  be  so : — ^because  He  delights  in  producing 
beauty ; — and,  as  we  have  further  tried  to  make  it  appear,  be- 
cause He  acts  by  general  law,  and  law  produces  beauty.  Is 
not  such  a  tendency  here  apparent,  as  a  part  of  the  general 
scheme  of  Creation  ? 

29.  We  have  already  attempted  to  show,  that  in  the  struc- 
ture of  animals,  especially  that  large  class  best  known  to  us, 
vertebrate  animals,  there  is  also  a  general  plan  which,  so  far  as 
we  can  see,  goes  beyond  the  circuit  of  the  special  adaptation 
of  each  animal  to  its  mode  of  living :  and  is  a  rule  of  creative 
action,  in  addition  to  the  rule  that  the  parts  shall  be  subservi- 
ent to  an  intelligible  purpose  of  animal  life.  We  have  noticed 
several  phenomena  in  the  animal  kingdon,  where  parts  and 
features  appear,  rudimentary  and  inert,  discharging  no  office 
in  their  economy,  and  speaking  to  us,  not  of  purpose,  but  of 
law : — consistent  with  an  end  which  is  visible,  but  seemingly 
the  results  of  a  rule  whose  end  is  in  itself. 

30.  And  do  we  not,  in  innumerable  cases,  see  beauties  of 
color  and  form,  texture  and  lustre,  which  suggests  to  us  irre- 
sistibly the  belief  that  beauty  and  regular  form  are  rules  of  the 
Creative  agency,  even  when  they  seem  to  us,  looking  at  the 
creation  for  uses  only,  idle  and  wanton  expenditure  of  beauty 
and  regularity.  To  what  purpose  are  the  host  of  splendid  cir- 
cles which  decorate  the  tail  of  the  peacock,  more  beautiful, 
each  of  them,  than  Saturn  with  his  rings  1  To  what  purpose 
the  exquisite  textures  of  microscopic  objects,  more  curiously 


268  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

regular  than  anything  which  the  telescope  discloses  1  To  what 
purpose  the  gorgeous  colors  of  tropical  birds  and  insects,  that 
live  and  die  where  human  eye  never  approaches  to  admire 
them  ?  To  what  purpose  the  thousands  of  species  of  butter- 
flies with  the  gay  and  varied  embroidery  of  their  microscopic 
plumage,  of  which  one  in  millions,  if  seen  at  all,  only  draws 
the  admiration  of  the  wandering  schoolboy  "?  To  what  purpose 
the  delicate  and  brilliant  markings  of  shells,  which  live,  gener- 
ation after  generation,  in  the  sunless  and  sightless  depths  of 
the  ocean  ?  Do  not  all  these  examples,  to  which  we  might  add 
countless  others,  (for  the  world,  so  far  as  human  eye  has  scanned 
it,  is  full  of  them,)  prove  that  beauty  and  regularity  are  uni- 
versal features  of  the  work  of  Creation,  in  all  its  parts,  small 
and  great :  and  that  we  judge  in  a  way  contrary  to  a  vast 
range  of  analogy,  which  runs  through  the  whole  of  the  Uni- 
verse, when  we  infer  that,  because  the  objects  which  are  pre- 
sented to  our  contemplation  are  beautiful  in  aspect  and  regu- 
lar in  form,  they  must,  in  each  case,  be  means  for  some  special 
end,  of  those  which  we  commonly  fix  upon,  as  the  main  ends 
of  the  Creation,  the  support  and  advantage  of  animals  or  of 
man*? 

31.  If  this  be  so,  then  the  beautiful  and  regular  objects 
which  the  telescope  reveals  to  us ;  Jupiter  and  his  Moons, 
Saturn  and  his  Rings,  the  most  regular  of  the  Double  Stars, 
Clusters  and  Nebulae ;  cannot  reasonably  be  inferred,  because 
they  are  beautiful  and  regular,  to  be  also  fields  of  life,  or  scenes 
of  thought.  They  may  be,  as  to  the  poet's  eye  they  often  ap- 
pear, the  gems  of  the  robe  of  Night,  the  flowers  of  the  celes- 
tial fields.  Like  gems  and  like  flowers,  they  are  beautiful  an<i 
regular,  because  they  are  brought  into  being  by  vast  and  gen- 
eral laws.  These  laws,  although,  in  the  mind  of  the  Creator, 
they  have  their  sufficient  reason,  as  far  as  thdy  extend,  may 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     DESIGN.  269 

have,  in  no  other  region  than  that  which  we  inhabit,  the  reason 
which  we  seek  to  discover  everywhere,  the  sustentation  of  a 
life  like  ours.  That  we  should  connect  with  the  existence  of 
such  laws,  the  existence  of  Mind  like  our  own  mind,  is  most 
natural ;  and,  as  we  might  easily  show,  is  justifiable,  reasonable, 
even  necessary.  But  that  we  should  suppose  the  result  of  such 
laws  are  so  connected  with  Mind,  that  wherever  the  laws 
gather  matter  into  globes,  and  whirl  it  round  the  central  body, 
there  is  also  a  local  seat  of  minds  like  ours  ;  is  an  assumption 
altogether  unwarranted ;  and  is,  without  strong  evidence,  of 
which  we  have  as  yet  no  particle,  quite  visionary. 

32.  But  finally,  it  may  be  said  that  by  this  our  view  of  the 
universe,  we  diminish  the  greatness  of  the  work  of  creation, 
and  the  majesty  of  the  Creator.  Such  a  view  appears  to  rep- 
resent the  other  planets  as  mere  fragments,  which  have  flown 
off  in  the  fabrication  of  this  our  earth,  and  of  the  mechanism 
by  which  it  answers  its  purpose.  Instead  of  a  vast  array  of 
completed  worlds,  we  have  one  world,  surrounded  by  abortive 
worlds  and  inert  masses.  Instead  of  perfection  everywhere, 
we  have  imperfection  everywhere,  except  at  one  spot ;  if  even 
there  the  workmanship  be  perfect. 

33.  To  this,  the  reply  is  contained  in  what  we  have  already 
said :  but  we  may  add,  that  it  cannot  be  wise  or  right,  to  prop 
up  our  notions  of  God's  greatness,  by  physical  doctrines  which 
will  not  bear  discussion.  God's  greatness  has  no  need  of  man's 
inventions  for  its  support.  The  very  conviction  that  the  Cre- 
ation must  be  such  as  to  confirm  our  belief  in  the  greatness  of 
God,  shows  that  such  a  belief  is  more  deeply  seated  than  any 
special  views  of  the  structure  of  the  universe,  and  will  tri- 
umphantly survive  the  removal  of  error  in  such  views.  We 
may  add,  that  till  within  a  few  thousand  years,  this  earth,  com- 
pared with  what  it  now  is,  having  upon  it  no  intelligent  beings, 


270  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

might  be  regarded  as  an  abortive  world  ;  that  all  the  parts  of 
the  solar  system  which  we  can  best  scrutinize,  the  moon,  and 
MLCteoric  stones,  are  inert  masses  ;  and  further,  that  there  is 
everywhere  the  perfection  which  results  from  the  operation  of 
law,  and  that  that  seems  to  be  the  perfection  with  which  the 
Creator  is  contented. 

34.  And  perhaps,  when  the  view  of  the  universe  which  we 
here  present  has  become  familiar,  we  may  be  led  to  think  that 
the  aspect  which  it  gives  to  the  mode  of  working  of  the  Crea- 
tor, is  sufficiently  grand  and  majestic.  Instead  of  manufactur- 
ing a  multitude  of  worlds  on  patterns  more  or  less  similar. 
He  has  been  employed  in  one  great  work,  which  we  cannot 
call  imperfect,  since.it  includes  and  suggests  all  that  we  can 
conceive  of  perfection.  It  may  be  that  all  the  other  bodies, 
which  we  can  discover  in  the  universe,  show  the  greatness  of 
this  work,  and  are  rolled  into  forms  of  symmetry  and  order, 
into  masses  of  light  and  splendor,  by  the  vast  whirl  which  the 
original  creative  energy  imparted  to  the  luminous  element. 
The  planets  and  the  stars  are  the  lumps  which  have  flown 
from  the  potter's  wheel  of  the  Great  Worker ; — the  shred-coils 
which,  in  the  working,  sprang  from  His  mighty  lathe  : — the 
sparks  which  darted  from  His  awful  anvil  when  the  solar  sys- 
tem lay  incandescent  thereon  ; — the  curls  of  vapor  which  rose 
from  the  great  cauldron  of  creation  when  its  elements  were 
separated.  If  even  these  superfluous  portions  of  the  material 
are  marked  with  universal  traces  of  regularity  and  order,  this 
shows  that  universal  rules  are  his  implements,  and  that  Order 
is  the  first  and  universal  Law  of  thp  heavenly  work. 

35.  And,  that  we  may  see  the  full  dignity  of  this  work,  we 
must  always  recollect  that  Man  is  a  part  of  it,  and  the  crown- 
ing part.  The  workmanship  which  is  employed  on  mere 
matter  is,  after  all,  of  small  account,  in  the  eyes  of  intellectual 


IHE     ARGUMENT     FROM     DESIGN.  271 

and  moral  creatures,  when  compared  with  the  creation  and  go- 
vernment  of  intellectual  and  moral  creatures.  The  majesty 
of  God  does  not  reside  in  planets  and  stars,  in  orbs  and  sys- 
tems ;  which  are,  after  all,  only  stone  and  vapor,  materials 
and  means.  If,  as  we  believe,  God  has  not  only  made  the 
material  world,  but  has  made  and  governs  man,  we  need  not 
regret  to  have  to  depress  any  portion  of  the  material  world 
below  the  place  which  we  had  previously  assigned  to  it ;  for, 
when  all  is  done,  the  material  world  must  be  put  in  an  inferior 
place,  compared  with  the  world  of  mind.  If  there  be  a  World 
of  Mind,  that,  according  to  all  that  we  can  conceive,  must  have 
been  better  worth  creating,  must  be  more  worthy  to  exist,  as 
an  object  of  care  in  the  eyes  of  the  Creator,  than  thousands 
and  millions  of  stars  and  planets,  even  if  they  were  occupied 
by  a  myriad  times  as  many  species  of  brute  animals  as  have 
lived  upon  the  earth  since  its  vivification.  In  saying  this,  we 
are  only  echoing  the  common  voice  of  mankind,  uttered,  as  so 
often  it  is,  by  the  tongues  of  poets.  One  such  speaks  thus  of 
stellar  systems : 

Behold  this  midnight  splendor,  worlds  on  worlds  ; 
Ten  thousand  add  and  twice  ten  thousand  more, 
Then  weigh  the  whole :  one  soul  outweighs  them  all, 
And  calls  the  seeming  vast  magnificence 
Of  unintelligent  creation,  poor. 

And  as  this  is  true  of  intelligence,  with  the  suggestion  which 
that  faculty  so  naturally  offers,  of  the  inextinguishable  nature 
of  mind,  so  is  it  "rue  of  the  moral  nature  of  man.  No  accu- 
mulation of  material  grandeur,  even  if  it  fill  the  universe,  has 
any  dignity  in  our  eyes,  compared  with  moral  grandeur  :  as 
poetry  has  also  expressed  : 

Look  then  abroad  through  nature,  to  the  range 
Of  planets,  suns,  and  adamantine  spheres, 


272  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

Wheeling  unshakeD  through  the  void  immense, 
And  speak,  0  man !     Can  this  capacious  scene 
With  half  that  kindling  majesty  exalt 
Thy  strong  conception,  as  when  Brutus  rose 
Refulgent  from  the  stroke  of  Caesar's  fate 
Amid  the  band  of  patriots ;  and  his  arm 
Aloft  extending,  like  eternal  Jove 
When  guilt  calls  down  the  thunder,  call'd  aloud 
On  TuUy's  name,  and  shook  his  crimson  steel, 
And  bade  the  Father  of  his  Country,  Hail ! 
For  lo  I  the  tyrant  prostrate  in  the  dust. 
And  Rome  again  is  free. 

This  action  being  taken,  as  it  is  here  meant  to  be  conceivedj 
for  one  of  the  highest  examples  of  moral  greatness.  And 
however  we  may  judge  of  this  action,  we  must  allow  that  the 
characters  which  are  implied  in  this  praise  of  it, — the  loftiest 
kinds  of  moral  excellence, — are  more  suitable  to  the  highest 
idea  of  the  object  and  purpose  of  a  Deity  creating  worlds, 
than  would  be  any  mere  material  structure  of  planets  and 
suns,  whether  kept  in  their  places  by  adamantine  spheres, 
wheeling  unshaken  through  the  void  immense,  or  themselves 
wheeling  unshaken  by  the  power  of  a  universal  law.  The 
thoughts  of  Rights  and  Obligations,  Duty  and  Virtue,  of  Law 
and  Liberty,  of  Country  and  Constitution,  of  the  Glory  of  our 
Ancestors,  the  Elevation  of  our  Fellow-Citizens,  the  Freedom 
and  Happiness  and  Dignity  of  Posterity, — are  thoughts  which 
belong  to  a  world,  »a  race,  a  body  of  beings,  of  which  any  one 
individual,  with  the  capacities  which  such  thoughts  imply,  is 
more  worthy  of  account,  than  millions  of  millions  of  mollusks 
and  belemnites,  lizards  and  fishes,  sloths  and  pachyderms,  dif- 
fused through  myriads  of  worlds. 

36.  We  might  illustrate  this  argument  further,  by  taking 
actions  of  the  moral  character  of  which  there  will  be  less 
doubt.     If  we  look  at  the  great  acts  which  render  Greece 


THE     ARGUMENT     FROM     DESIGN.  273 

illustrious  and  interesting  in  our  eyes, — such  as  the  death  of 
Socrates,  for  instance,  the  triumph  of  a  reverence  for  Law 
and  a  love  of  country  ; — can  we  think  it  any  real  diminution 
of  the  glory  of  the  universe,  if  we  are  reduced  to  the  neces- 
sity of  rejecting  the  belief  in  a  multitude  of  worlds,  which 
though,  it  may  be,  peopled  with  lower  animals,  contain  ^one 
endowed  with  any  higher  principle  than  hunger  and  thirst  ? 

37.  That  the  human  race  possesses  a  worth  in  the  eyes  of 
Reason  beyond  that  which  any  material  structure,  or  any 
brute  population  can  possess,  might  be  maintained  on  still 
higher  and  stronger  grounds ;  namely,  on  religious  grounds  : 
but  we  do  not  intend  here  to  dwell  on  that  part  of  the  subject. 
If  man  be,  not  merely  (and  he  alone  of  all  animals)  capable 
of  Virtue  and  Duty,  of  Universal  Love  and  Self-Devotion, 
but  be  also  immortal ;  if  his  being  be  of  infinite  duration,  his 
soul  created  never  to  die  ;  then,  indeed,  we  may  well  say  that 
one  soul  outweighs  the  whole  unintelligent  creation.  And  if 
the  Earth  have  been  the  scene  of  an  action  of  Love  and  Self- 
Devotion  for  the  incalculable  benefit  of  the  whole  human  race, 
in  comparison  with  which  the  death  of  Socrates  fades  into  a 
mere  act  of  cheerful  resignation  to  the  common  lot  of  human- 
ity ;  and  if  this  action,  and  its  consequences  to  the  whole  race 
of  mian,  in  his  temporal  and  eternal  destiny,  and  in  his  history 
on  earth  before  and  after  it,  were  the  main  object  for  which 
man  was  created,  the  cardinal  point  round  which  the  capacities 
and  the  fortunes  of  the  race  were  to  turn ;  then  indeed  we  see 
that  the  Earth  has  a  pre-eminence  in  the  scheme  of  creation, 
which  may  well  reconcile  us  to  regard  all  the  material  splen- 
dour which  surrounds  it,  all  the  array  of  mere  visible  lumi- 
naries and  masses  which  accompany  it,  as  no  unfitting  ap- 
pendages to  such  a  drama.  The  elevation  of  millions  of 
intellectual,  moral,  religious,  spiritual  creatures,  to  a  destiny 

12* 


274  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

SO  prepared,  consummated,  and  developed,  is  no  unworthy 
occupation  of  all  the  capacities  of  space,  time,  and  matter. 
And,  so  far  as  any  one  has  yet  shown,  to  regard  this  great 
scheme  as  other  than  the  central  point  of  the  divine  plan  ;  to 
consider  it  as  one  part  among  other  parts,  similar,  co-ordinate, 
or  superior ;  involves  those  who  so  speculate,  in  difficulties, 
even  with  regard  to  the  plan  itself,  which  they  strive  in  vain 
to  reconcile  ;  while  the  assumption  of  the  subjects  of  such  a 
plan,  in  other  regions  of  the  universe,  is  at  variance  with  all 
which  we,  looking  at  the  analogies  of  space  and  time,  of  earth 
and  stars,  of  life  in  brutes  and  in  man,  have  found  reason  to 
deem  in  any  degree  probable. 

38.  And  thus  that  conjecture  of  the  Plurality  of  Worlds, 
to  which  a  wide  and  careful  examination  of  the  physical  con- 
stitution of  the  Universe  supplied  no  confirmation,  derives  also 
little  support  from  a  contemplation  of  the  Design  which  the 
Creator  may  be  supposed  to  have  had  in  the  work  of  the  Crea- 
tion ;  when  such  Design  is  regarded  in  a  comprehensive  man- 
ner, and  in  all  its  bearings.  Such  a  survey  seems  to  speak 
rather  in  favor  of  the  Unity  of  the  World,  than  of  a  Plurality 
of  Worlds.  A  further  consideration  of  the  intellectual,  moral, 
and  religious  nature  of  man  may  still  further  illustrate  this 
view ;  and  with  that  object,  we  shall  make  a  few  additional 
remarks. 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

THE   UNITY  OF  THE  WOELD. 

1.  The  two  doctrines  which  we  have  here  to  weigh  against 
each  other  are  the  Plurality  of  Worlds,  and  the  Unity  of  the 
World.  In  so  saying,  we  include  in  our  present  view,  a  neces- 
sary part  of  the  conception  of  a  World,  a  collection  of  intelli- 
gent creatures :  for  even  if  the  suppositions  to  which  we  have 
been  led,  respecting  the  kind  of  unintelligent  living  things 
which  may  inhabit  other  parts  of  the  Universe,  be  conceived 
to  be  probable ;  such  a  belief  will  have  little  interest  for  most 
persons,  compared  with  the  belief  of  other  worlds,  where  re- 
side intelligence,  perception  of  truth,  recognition  of  moral  Law, 
and  reverence  for  a  Divine  Creator  and  Governor.  In  look- 
ing outwards  at  the  Universe,  there  are  certain  aspects  which 
suggest  to  man,  at  first  sight,  a  conjecture  that  there  may  be 
other  bodies  like  the  Earth,  tenanted  by  other  creatures  like 
man.  This  conjecture,  however,  receives  no  confirmation  from 
a  closer  inquiry,  with  increased  means  of  observation.  Let  us 
now  look  inwards,  at  the  constitution  of  man ;  and  consider 
some  characters  of  his  nature,  which  seem  to  remove  or  lessen 
the  difficulties  which  we  may  at  first  feel,  in  regarding  the 
Earth  as,  in  a  unique  and  special  manner,  the  field  of  God's 
Providence  and  Government. 

2.  In  the  first  place,  the  Earth,  as  the  abode  of  man,  the  in- 


276 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDI 


tellectual  creature,  contains  a  being,  whose  mind  is,  in  some 
measure,  of  the  same  nature  as  the  Divine  Mind  of  the  Crea- 
tor. The  Laws  which  man  discovers  in  the  Creation  must  be 
Laws  known  to  God.  The  truths, — for  instance  the  truths  of 
geometry, — which  man  sees  to  be  true,  God  also  must  see  to 
be  true.  That  there  were,  from  the  beginning,  in  the  Creative 
Mind,  Creative  Thoughts,  is  a  doctrine  involved  in  every  intel 
ligent  view  of  Creation. 

3.  This  doctrine  was  presented  by  the  ancients  in  various 
forms ;  and  the  most  recent  scientific  discoveries  have  sup- 
plied, new  illustrations  of  it.  The  mode  in  which  Plato  ex- 
pressed the  doctrine  which  we  are  here  urging  was,  that  there 
were  in  the  Divine  Mind,  before  or  during  the  work  of  crea- 
tion, certain  archetypal  Ideas,  certain  exemplars  or  patterns  of 
the  world  and  its  parts,  according  to  which  the  work  was  per- 
formed :  so  that  these  Ideas  or  Exemplars  existed  in  the  objects 
around  us  being  in  so  many  cases  discernible  by  man,  and  being 
the  proper  objects  of  human  reason.  If  a  mere  metaphysician 
were  to  attempt  to  revive  this  mode  of  expressing  the  doctrine, 
probably  his  speculations  would  be  disregarded,  or  treated  as 
a  pedantic  resuscitation  of  obsolete  Platonic  dreams.  But  the 
adoption  of  such  language  must  needs  be  received  in  a  very 
different  manner,  when  it  proceeds  from  a  great  discoverer  in 
the  field  of  natural  knowledge  :  when  it  is,  as  it  were,  forced 
upon  him,  as  the  obvious  and  appropriate  expression  of  the 
result  of  the  most  profound  and  comprehensive  researches  into 
the  frame  of  the  whole  animal  creation.  The  recent  works  of 
Mr.  Owen,  and  especially  one  work.  On  the  Nature  of  Limbs, 
are  full  of  the  most  energetic  and  striking  passages,  inculcating 
the  doctrine  which  we  have  been  endeavoring  to  maintain. 
We  may  take  the  liberty  of  enriching  our  pages  with  one  pas- 
sage bearing  upon  the  present  part  of  the  subject. 


THE     UNITY     OF     THE     WORLD.  277 

"  If  the  world  were  made  by  any  antecedent  Mind  or  Under- 
standing, that  is  by  a  Deity,  then  there  must  needs  be  an  Idea 
and  Exemplar  of  the  whole  world  before  it  was  made,  and  con- 
sequently actual  knowledge,  both  in  the  order  of  Time  and 
Nature,  before  Things.  But  conceiving  of  knowledge  as  it 
was  got  by  their  own  finite  minds,  and  ignorant  of  any  evi- 
dence of  an  ideal  Archetype  for  the  world  or  any  part  of  it, 
they  [the  Democritio  Philosophers  who  denied  a  Divine  Crea- 
tive Mind]  affirmed  that  there  was  none,  and  concluded  that 
there  could  be  no  knowledge  or  mind  before  the  world  was,  as 
its  cause."  Plato's  assertion  of  Archetypal  Ideas  was  a  pro- 
test against  this  doctrine,  but  was  rather  a  guess,  suggested  by 
the  nature  of  mathematical  demonstration,  than  a  doctrine  de- 
rived from  a  contemplation  of  the  external  world. 

"  Now  however,"  Mr.  Owen  continues,  "  the  recognition  of 
an  ideal  exemplar  for  the  vertebrated  animals  proves  that  the 
knowledge  of  such  a  being  as  Man  must  have  existed  before 
Man  appeared.  For  the  Divine  Mind  which  planned  the 
Archetypal  also  foreknew  all  its  modifications.  The  Arche- 
typal Idea  was  manifested  in  the  flesh  under  divers  modifica- 
tions upon  this  planet,  long  prior  to  the  existence  of  those  ani- 
mal species  which  actually  exemplify  it.  To  what  natural  or 
secondary  causes  the  orderly  succession  and  progression  of 
such  organic  phenomena  may  have  been  committed,  we  are  as 
yet  ignorant.  But  if  without  derogation  to  the  Divine  Power, 
we  may  conceive  such  ministers  and  personify  them  by  the 
term  Nature^  we  learn  from  the  past  history  of  our  globe  that 
she  has  advanced  with  slow  and  stately  steps,  guided  by  the 
archetypal  light  amidst  the  wreck  of  worlds,  from  the  first  em- 
bodiment of  the  vertebrate  idea,  under  its  old  ichthyic  vest- 
ment, until  it  became  arrayed  in  the  glorious  garb  of  the  human 
form." 


278  THE  pI^crality   of  worlds. 

4.  Law  implies  a  Lawgiver,  even  when  we  do  not  see  the 
object  of  the  Law ;  even  as  Design  implies  a  Designer,  when 
we  do  not  see  the  object  of  the  Design.  The  Laws  of  Nature 
are  the  indications  of  the  operation  of  the  Divine  Mind  ;  and 
are  revealed  to  us,  as  such,  by  the  operations  of  our  minds,  by 
which  we  come  to  discover  them.  They  are  the  utterances  of 
the  Creator,  delivered  in  language  which  we  can  understand  ; 
and  being  thus  Language,  they  are  the  utterances  of  an  Intelli- 
gent Spirit. 

5.  It  may  seem  to  some  persons  too  bold  a  view,  to  identify, 
so  far  as  we  thus  do,  certain  truths  as  seen  by  man,  and  as 
seen  by  God  :* — to  make  the  Divine  Mind  thus  cognizant  of 
the  truths  of  geometry,  for  instance.  If  any  one  has  such  a 
scruple,  we  may  remark  that  truth,  when  of  so  luminous  and 
stable  a  kind  as  are  the  truths  of  geometry,  must  be  alike  Truth 
for  all  minds,  even  for  the  highest.  The  mode  of  arriving  at 
the  knowledge  of  such  truths,  may  be  very  different,  even  for 
different  human  minds  ; — deduction  for  some  ; — intuition  for 
others.  But  the  intuitive  apprehension  of  necessary  truth  is 
an  act  so  purely  intellectual,  that  even  in  the  Supreme  Intel- 
lect, we  may  suppose  that  it  has  its  place.  Can  we  conceive 
otherwise,  than  that  God  does  contemplate  the  universe  as  ex- 
isting in  space,  since  it  really  does  so ; — and  subject  to  the  re- 
lations of  space,  since  these  are  as  real  as  space  itself?  We 
are  well  aware  that  the  Supreme  Being  must  contemplate  the 
world  under  many  other  aspects  than  this  ; — even  man  does  so. 
But  that  does  not  prevent  the  truths,  which  belong  to  the  as- 
pect of  the  world,  contemplated  as  existing  in  space,  from  be- 
ing truths,  regarded  as  such,  even  by  the  Divine  Mind. 

*  Among  the  most  recent  expositors  of  this  doctrine  we  may  place 
M.  Henri  Martin,  whose  Philosopkie  Spiritualiste  de  la  Nature  is  full  of 
striking  views  of  the  universe  in  its  relation  to  God.      (Paris.     1849.) 


THE     UNITY     OF     THE     WORLD.  279 

6.  If  these  reflections  are  well  founded,  as  we  trust  they  will, 
on  consideration,  be  seen  to  be,  we  may  adopt  many  of  the  ex- 
pressions by  which  philosophers  heretofore  have  attempted  to 
convey  similar  views  ;  for  in  fact,  this  view,  in  its  general  bear- 
ing at  least,  is  by  no  means  new.  The  Mind  of  Man  is  a  par- 
taker of  the  thoughts  of  the  Divine  Mind.  Tlie  Intellect  of 
Man  is  a  spark  of  the  Light  by  which  the  world  was  created. 
The  Ideas  according  to  which  man  builds  up  his  knowledge,  are 
emanations  of  the  archetypal  Ideas  according  to  which  the 
work  of  creation  was  planned  and  executed.  These,  and  many 
the  like  expressions,  have  been  often  used ;  and  we  now  see, 
we  may  trust,  that  there  is  a  great  philosophical  truth,  which 
they  all  tend  to  convey ;  and  this  truth  shows  at  the  same 
time,  how  man  may  have  some  knowledge  respecting  the  Laws 
of  Nature,  and  how  this  knowledge  may,  in  some  cases,  seem  to 
be  a  knowledge  of  necessary  relations,  as  in  the  case  of  space.* 

*  Most  readers  who  have  given  any  attention  to  speculations  of  this 
kind,  will  recollect  Newton's  remarkable  expressions  concerning  the 
Deity:  "^Eternus  est  et  infinitus,  omnipotens  et  omnisciens ;  id  est, 
dnrat  ab  seterno  in  seternum,  et  adest  ab  infinito  in  infinitum  .  .  . 
Non  est  seternitas  et  infinitas,  sed  seternus  et  infinitus ;  non  est  duratio 
et  spatium,  sed  durat  et  adest.  Durat  semper  et  adest  ubique,  et  exist- 
endo  semper  et  ubique  durationem  et  spatium  constituit." 

To  say  that  God  by  existing  always  and  everywhere  constitutes  du- 
ration and  space^  appears  to  be  a  form  of  expression  better  avoided. 
Besides  that  it  approaches  too  near  to  the  opinion,  which  the  writer 
rejects,  that  He  is  duration  and  space,  it  assumes  a  knowledge  of  the 
nature  of  the  Divine  existence,  beyond  our  means  of  knowing,  and 
therefore  rashly.  It  appears  to  be  safer,  and  more  in  conformity  with 
what  we  really  know,  to  say,  not  that  the  existence  of  G  od  constitutes 
time  and  space ;  but  that  God  has  constituted  man,  so  that  he  can  ap- 
prehend the  works  of  creation,  only  as  existing  in  time  and  space. 
That  God  has  constituted  time  and  space  as  conditions  of  man's  knowl- 
edge of  the  creation,  is  certain :  that  God  has  constituted  time  and 
space  as  results  of  his  own  existence  in  any  other  way,  we  cannot 
know. 


!^00  THE     PLURALITY     OP     WORLDS. 

7.  Now,  the  views  to  which  we  have  been  led,  bear  very 
strongly  upon  that  argument.  For  if  man,  when  he  attains  to 
a  knowledge  of  such  laws,  is  really  admitted,  in  some  degree, 
to  the  view  with  which  the  Creator  himself  beholds  his  crea- 
tion ; — if  we  can  gather,  from  the  conditions  of  such  knowl- 
edge, that  his  intellect  partakes  of  the  Nature  of  the  Supreme 
Intellect ; — if  his  Mind,  in  its  clearest  and  largest  contempla- 
tions, harmonizes  with  the  Divine  Mind ; — we  have,  in  this,  a 
reason  which  may  well  seem  to  us  very  powerful,  why,  even 
if  the  Earth  alone  be  the  habitation  of  intelligent  beings,  still, 
the  great  work  of  Creation  is  not  wasted.  If  God  have  placed 
upon  the  earth  a  creature  who  can  so  far  sympathize  with  Him, 
if  we  may  venture  upon  the  expression ; — who  can  raise  his 
intellect  into  some  accordance  with  the  Creative  Intellect ;  and 
that,  not  once  only,  nor  by  few  steps,  but  through  an  indefinite 
gradation  of  discoveries,  more  and  more  comprehensive,  more 
and  more  profound ;  each,  an  advance,  however  slight,  towards 
a  Divine  Insight ; — then,  so  far  as  intellect  alone  (and  we  are 
here  speaking  of  intellect  alone)  can  make  Man  a  worthy  ob- 
ject of  all  the  vast  magnificence  of  Creative  Power,  we  can 
hardly  shrink  from  believing  that  he  is  so. 

8.  We  may  remark  further,  that  this  view  of  God,  as  the 
Author  of  the  Laws  of  the  Universe,  leads  to  a  view  of  all  the 
phenomena  and  objects  of  the  world,  as  the  work  of  God  ;  not 
a  work  made,  and  laid  out  of  hand,  but  a  field  of  his  present 
activity  and  energy.  And  such  a  view  cannot  fail  to  give  an 
aspect  of  dignity  to  all  that  is  great  in  creation,  and  of  beauty 
to  all  that  is  symmetrical,  which  otherwise  they  could  not  have. 
Accordingly,  it  is  by  calling  to  their  thoughts  the  presence  of 
God  as  suggested  by  scenes  of  grandeur  or  splendor,  that 
poets  often  reach  the  sympathies  of  their  readers.  And  this 
dignity  and  sublimity  appear  especially  to  belong  to  the  larger 


THE     UNITY     OP    THE    WORLD.  281 

objects,  which  are  destitute  of  conscious  life  ;  as  the  mountain, 
the  glacier,  the  pine-forest,  the  ocean  ;  since  in  these,  we  are, 
as  it  were,  alone  with  God,  and  the  only  present  witnesses  of 
His  mysterious  working. 

9.  Now  if  this  reflection  be  true,  the  vast  bodies  which  hang 
in  the  sky,  at  such  immense  distances  from  us,  and  roll  on  their 
courses,  and  spin  round  their  axles  with  such  exceeding  rapid- 
ity ;  Jupiter  and  his  array  of  Moons,  Saturn  with  his  still  larger 
host  of  Satellites,  and  with  his  wonderful  Ring,  and  the  other 
large  and  distant  Planets,  will  lose  nothing  of  their  majesty, 
,n  our  eyes,  by  being  uninhabited ;  any  more  than  the  summer- 
clouds,  which  perhaps  are  formed  of  the  same  materials,  lose 
their  dignity  from  the  same  cause  ; — any  more  than  our  Moon, 
one  of  the  tribe  of  satellites,  loses  her  soft  and  tender  beauty, 
when  we  have  ascertained  that  she  is  more  barren  of  inhab- 
itants than  the  top  of  Mount  Blanc.  However  destitute  the 
planets  and  moons  and  rings  may  be  of  inhabitants,  they  are 
at  least  vast  scenes  of  God's  presence,  and  of  the  activity  with 
which  he  carries  into  effect,  everywhere,  the  laws  of  nature. 
The  light  which  comes  to  us  from  them  is  transmitted  accord- 
ing to  laws  which  He  has  established,  by  an  energy  which  He 
maintains.  The  remotest  planet  is  not  devoid  of  life,  for  God 
lives  there.  At  each  stage  which  we  make,  from  planet  to 
planet,  from  star  to  star,  into  the  regions  of  infinity,  we  may 
say,  with  the  patriarch,  "  Surely  God  is  here,  and  I  knew  it 
not."  And  when  those  who  question  the  habitability  of  the 
remote  planets  and  stars  are  reproached  as  presenting  a  view  of 
the  universe,  which  takes  something  from  the  magnificence 
hitherto  ascribed  to  it,  as  the  scene  of  God's  glory,  shown  in 
the  things  which  He  has  created ;  they  may  reply,  that  they  do 
not  at  all  disturb  that  glory  of  the  creation  which  arises  from 
iibs  being,  not  only  the  product,  but  the  constant  field  of  God's 


282  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

activity  and  thought,  wisdom  and  power  ;  and  they  may  per- 
haps ask,  in  return,  whether  the  dignity  of  the  Moon  would  be 
greatly  augmented  if  her  surface  were  ascertained  to  be  abun- 
dantly peopled  with  lizards  ;  or  whether  Mount  Blanc  would  be 
more  sublime,  if  millions  of  frogs  were  known  to  live  in  the 
crevasses  of  its  glaciers. 

10.  Again :  the  Earth  is  a  scene  of  Moral  Trial.  Man  is 
subject  to  a  Moral  Law ;  and  this  Moral  Law  is  a  Law  of 
which  God  is  the  Legislator.  It  is  a  law  which  man  has  the 
power  of  discovering,  by  the  use  of  the  faculties  which  God  has 
given  him.  By  considering  the  nature  and  consequences  of 
actions,  man  is  able  to  discern,  in  a  great  measure,  what  is  right 
and  what  is  wrong ; — what  he  ought  and  what  he  ought  not  to 
do  ; — what  his  duty  and  virtue,  what  his  crime  and  vice.  Man 
has  a  Law  on  such  subjects,  written  on  his  heart,  as  the  Apostle 
Paul  says.  He  has  a  conscience  which  accuses  or  excuses 
him  ;  and  thus,  recognizes  his  acts  as  worthy  of  condemnation 
or  approval.  And  thus,,  man  is,  and  knows  himself  to  be,  the 
subject  of  Divine  Law,  commanding  and  prohibiting  ;  and  is 
here,  in  a  state  of  probation,  as  to  how  far  he  will  obey  or 
disobey  this  Law.  He  has  impulses,  springs  of  action,  which 
urge  him  to  the  violation  of  this  Law.  Appetite,  Desire, 
Anger,  Lust,  Greediness,  Envy,  Malice,  impel  him  to  courses 
which  are  vicious.  But  these  impulses  he  is  capable  of  resist- 
ing and  controlling ; — of  avoiding  the  vices  and  practising  the 
opposite  virtues ; — and  of  rising  from  one  stage  of  Virtue  to 
another,  by  a  gradual  and  successive  purification  and  elevation 
of  the  desires,  affections  and  habits,  in  a  degree,  so  far  as  we 
know,  without  limit. 

n.  Now  in  considering  the  bearing  of  this  view  upon  our 
original  subject,  we  have,  in  the  first  place,  to  make  this  re- 
mark :  that  the  existence  of  a  body  of  creatures,  capable  oi 


THE     UNITY     OF    THE    WORLD.  283 

such  a  Law,  of  such  a  Trial,  and  of  such  an  Elevation  as  this, 
is,  according  to  all  that  we  can  conceive,  an  object  infinitely 
more  worthy  of  the  exertion  of  the  Divine  Power  and  Wisdom, 
in  the  Creation  of  the  universe,  than  any  number  of  planets 
occupied  by  creatures  having  no  such  lot,  no  such  law,  no  such 
capacities,  and  no  such  responsibilities.  However  imperfectly 
the  moral  law  be  obeyed  ;  however  ill  the  greater  part  of  man- 
kind may  respond  to  the  appointment  which  places  them  here 
in  a  state  of  moral  probation ;  however  few  those  may  be  who 
use  the  capacities  and  means  of  their  moral  purification  and  ele- 
vation ; — still,  that  there  is  such  a  plan  in  the  creation,  and  that 
any  respond  to  its  appointments, — is  really  a  view  of  the  Uni- 
verse which  we  can  conceive  to  be  suitable  to  the  nature  of 
God,  because  we  can  approve  of  it,  in  virtue  of  the  moral  na- 
ture which  He  has  given  us.  One  school  of  moral  discipline, 
one  theatre  of  moral  action,  one  arena  of  moral  contests  for 
the  highest  prizes,  is  a  sufl^cient  centre  for  innumerable  hosts  of 
stars  and  planets,  globes  of  fire  and  earth,  water  and  air, 
whether  or  not  tenanted  by  corals  and  madrepores,  fishes  and 
creeping  things.  So  great  and  majestic  are  those  names  of 
Bight  and  Good^  Duty  and  Virtue^  that  all  mere  material  or 
animal  existence  is  worthless  in  the  comparison. 

12.  But  further :  let  us  consider  what  is  this  moral  progress 
of  which  we  have  spoken  ; — this  purification  and  elevation  of 
man's  inner  being.  Man's  intellectual  progress,  his  advance  in 
the  knowledge  of  the  general  laws  of  the  Universe,  we  found 
reason  to  believe  that  we  were  not  describing  unfitly,  when  we 
spoke  of  it  as  bringing  us  nearer  to  God ; — as  making  our 
thoughts,  in  some  degree,  resemble  His  thoughts  ; — as  enabling 
us  to  see  things  as  He  sees  them.  And  on  that  account,  we 
held  that  the  placing  man,  with  his  intellectual  powers,  in  a 
condition  in  which  he  was  impelled,  and  enabled,  to  sfvek  such 


284  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

knowledge,  was  of  itself  a  great  thing,  and  tended  much  to 
give  to  the  Creation  a  worthy  end.  Now  the  moral  elevation 
of  man's  being  is  the  elevation  of  his  sentiments  and  affections 
towards  a  standard  or  idea,  which  God,  by  his  Law,  has  indi- 
cated as  that  point  towards  which  man  ought  to  tend.  We  do 
not  ascribe  Virtue  to  God,  adapting  to  Him  our  notions  taken 
from  man's  attributes,  as  we  do  when  we  ascribe  Knowledge  to 
God :  for  Virtue  implies  the  control  and  direction  of  human 
springs  of  action  ; — implies  human  efforts  and  human  habits. 
But  we  ascribe  to  God  infinite  Goodness,  Justice,  and  Truth, 
as  well  as  infinite  Wisdom  and  Power  ;  and  Goodness,  Justice, 
Truth,  form  elements  of  the  character  at  which  man  also  is,  by 
the  Moral  Law,  directed  to  aim.  So  far,  therefore,  man's  moral 
progress  is  a  progress  towards  a  likeness  with  God ;  and  such 
a  progress,  even  more  than  a  progress  towards  an  intellectual 
likeness  with  God,  may  be  conceived  as  making  the  soul  of 
man  fit  to  endure  forever  with  God ;  and  therefore,  as  making 
this  earth  a  prefatory  stage  of  human  souls,  to  fit  them  for 
eternity  ; — a  nursery  of  plants  which  are  to  be  fully  unfolded 
in  a  celestial  garden. 

13.  And  to  this,  we  must  add  that,  on  other  accounts  also,  as 
well  as  on  account  of  the  capacity  of  the  human  soul  for  moral 
and  intellectual  progress,  thoughtful  men  have  always  been 
disposed,  on  grounds  supplied  by  the  light  of  nature,  to  believe 
in  the  existence  of  human  souls  after  this  present  earthly  life 
iy  past.  Such  a  belief  has  been  cherished  in  all  ages  and 
nations,  as  the  mode  in  which  we  naturally  conceive  that 
which  is  apparently  imperfect  and  deficient  in  the  moral  gov- 
ernment of  the  world,  to  be  completed  and  perfected.  And  if 
this  mortal  life  be  thus  really  only  the  commencement  of  an 
infinite  Divine  Plan,  beginning  upon  earth  and  destined  to  en- 
dure for  endless  ages  after  our  earthly  life ;  we  need  no  array 


THE     UNITY     OF    THE     WORLD.  285 

of  Other  worlds  in  the  universe  to  give  sufficient  dignity  and 
majesty  to  the  scheme  of  the  Creation. 

14.  We  may  make  another  remark  which  may  have  an  im- 
portant bearing  upon  our  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  moral 
scheme  of  the  world  which  occupies  the  earth.  If,  by  any  act 
of  the  Divine  Government,  the  number  of  those  men  should 
be  much  increased,  who  raise  themselves  towards  the  moral 
standard  which  God  has  appointed,  and  thus,  towards  a  likeness 
to  God,  and  a  prospect  of  a  future  eternal  union  with  him  ;-^ 
such  an  act  of  Divine  Government  would  do  far  more  towards 
making  the  Universe  a  scene  in  which  God's  goodness  and 
greatness  were  largely  displayed,  than  could  be  done  by  any 
amount  of  peopling  of  planets  with  creatures  who  were  inca- 
pable of  moral  agency ;  or  with  creatures  whose  capacity  for 
the  development  of  their  moral  faculties  was  small,  and 
would  continue  to  be  small  till  such  an  act  of  Divine  Gov- 
ernment were  performed.  The  Interposition  of  God,  in  the 
history  of  man,  to  remedy  man's  feebleness  in  moral  and 
spiritual  tasks,  and  to  enable  those  who  profit  by  the  Inter- 
position, to  ascend  towards  a  union  with  God,  is  an  event 
entirely  out  of  the  range  of  those  natural  courses  of  events 
which  belong  to  our  subject ;  and  to  such  an  Interposition, 
therefore,  we  must  refer  with  great  reserve;  using  great 
caution  that  we  do  not  mix  up  speculations  and  conjectures  of 
our  own,  with  what  has  been  revealed  to  man  concerning  such 
an  Interposition.  But  this,  it  would  seem,  we  may  say  : — that 
such  a  Divine  Interposition  for  the  moral  and  spiritual  eleva- 
tion of  the  human  race,  and  for  the  encouragement  and  aid  of 
those  who  seek  the  purification  and  elevation  of  their  nature, 
and  an  eternal  union  with  God,  is  far  more  suitable  to  the  Idea 
of  a  God  of  Infinite  Goodness,  Purity,  and  Greatness,  than 
any  supposeii  multiplication  of  a  population,  (on  our  planet  or 


286  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

on  any  other,)  not  provided  with  such  means  of  moral  and 
spiritual  progress. 

15.  And  if  we  were,  instead  of  such  a  supposition,  to  im- 
agine to  ourselves,  in  other  regions  of  the  Universe,  a  moral 
population  purified  and  elevated  without  the  aid  or  need  of 
any  such  Divine  Interposition  ;  the  supposed  possibility  of  such 
a  moral  race  would  make  the  sin  and  misery,  which  deform 
and  sadden  the  aspect  of  our  earth,  appear  more  dark  and  dis- 
mal still.  We  should  therefore,  it  would  seem,  find  no  thea- 
logical  congruity,  and  no  religious  consolation,  in  the  assump- 
tion of  a  Plurality  of  Worlds  of  Moral  Beings  :  while,  to 
place  the  seats  of  such  worlds  in  the  Stars  and  the  Planets, 
would  be,  as  we  have  already  shown,  a  step  discountenanced 
by  physical  reasons  ;  and  discountenanced  the  more,  the  more 
the  light  of  science  is  thrown  upon  it. 

16.  Perhaps  it  may  be  said,  that  all  which  we  have  urged 
to  show  that  other  animals,  in  comparison  with  man,  are  less 
worthy  objects  of  creative  design,  may  be  used  as  an  argu- 
ment to  prove  that  other  planets  are  tenanted  by  men,  or  by 
moral  and  intellectual  creatures  like  man ;  since,  if  the  crea- 
tion of  one  world  of  such  creatures  exalts  so  highly  our  views 
of  the  dignity  and  importance  of  the  plan  of  creation,  the  be- 
lief in  many  such  worlds  must  elevate  still  more  our  senti- 
ments of  admiration  and  reverence  of  the  greatness  and  good- 
ness of  the  Creator ;  and  must  be  a  belief,  on  that  account,  to 
be  accepted  and  cherished  by  pious  minds. 

17.  To  this  we  reply,  that  we  cannot  think  ourselves  au- 
thorized to  assert  cosmological  doctrines,  selected  arbitrarily 
by  ourselves,  on  the  ground  of  their  exalting  our  sentiments 
of  admiration  and  reverence  for  the  Deity,  when  the  weight  of 
all  the  evidence  which  we  can  obtain  respecting  the  constitution 
of  the  universe  is  against  them.     It  appears  to  us,  that  to  dis- 


THE     UNITY     OF    THE    WORLD.  287 

cern  one  great  scheme  of  moral  and  religious  government, 
which  is  the  spiritual  centre  of  the  universe,  may  well  suffice 
for  the  religious  sentiments  of  men  in  the  present  age  ;  as  in 
former  ages  such  a  view  of  creation  was  sufficient  to  over- 
whelm men  with  feelings  of  awe,  and  gratitude,  and  love ; 
and  to  make  them  confess,  in  the  most  emphatic  language,  that 
all  such  feelings  were  an  inadequate  response  to  the  view  of 
the  scheme  of  Providence  which  was  revealed  to  them.  The 
thousands  of  millions  of  inhabitants  of  the  Earth  to  whom 
the  effects  of  the  Divine  Plan  extend,  will  not  seem,  to  the 
greater  part  of  religious  persons,  to  need  the  addition  of  more, 
to  fill  our  minds  with  sufficiently  vast  and  affecting  contem- 
plations, so  far  as  we  are  capable  of  pursuing  such  contempla- 
tions. The  possible  extension  of  God's  spiritual  kingdom 
upon  the  earth  will  probably  appear  to  them  a  far  more  inter- 
esting field  of  devout  meditation,  than  the  possible  addition  to 
it  of  the  inhabitants  of  distant  stars,  connected  in  some  inscru- 
table manner  with  the  Divine  Plan. 

18.  To  justify  our  saying  that  the  weight  of  the  evidence  is 
against  such  cosmological  doctrines,  we  must  recall  to  the 
reader's  recollection  the  whole  course  of  the  argument  which 
we  have  been  pursuing. 

It  is  a  possible  conjecture,  at  first,  that  there  may  be  other 
Worlds,  having,  as  this  has,  their  moral  and  intellectual  attri- 
butes, and  their  relations  to  the  Creator.  It  is  also  a  possible 
conjecture,  that  this  World,  having  such  attributes,  and  such 
relations,  may,  on  that  account,  be  necessarily  unique  and  in- 
capable of  repetition,  peculiar,  and  spiritually  central.  These 
two  opposite  possibilities  may  be  placed,  at  first,  front  to  front, 
as  balancing  each  other.  We  must  then  weigh  such  evidence 
and  such  analogies  as  we  can  find  on  the  one  side  or  on  the 
other.     We  see  much  in  the  intellectual  and  moral  nature  of 


288  THE    PLURALITY    OF    WORLDS. 

man,  and  in  his  history,  to  confirm  the  opinion  that  the  human 
race  is  thus  unique,  peculiar  and  central.  In  the  views  which 
Eeligion  presents,  we  find  much  more,  tending  the  same  way, 
and  involving  the  opposite  supposition  in  great  difficulties. 
We  find,  in  our  knowledge  of  what  we  ourselves  are,  reasons 
to  believe  that  if  there  be,  in  any  other  planet,  intellectual  and 
moral  beings,  they  must  not  only  be  like  men,  but  must  be 
men,  in  all  the  attributes  which  we  can  conceive  as  belonging 
to  such  beings.  And  yet  to  suppose  other  groups  of  the 
human  species,  in  other  parts  of  the  universe,  must  be  allowed 
to  be  a  very  bold  hypothesis,  to  be  justified  only  by  some 
positive  evidence  in  its  favor.  When  from  these  views,  drawn 
from  the  attributes  and  relations  of  man,  we  turn  to  the 
evidence  drawn  from  physical  conditions,  we  find  very  strong 
reason  to  believe  that,  so  far  as  the  Solar  System  is  concerned, 
the  Earth  is,  with  regard  to  the  conditions  of  life,  in  a  peculiar 
and  central  position  ;  so  that  the  conditions  of  any  life  ap- 
proaching at  all  to  human  life,  exist  on  the  Earth  alone.  As 
to  other  systems  which  may  circle  other  suns,  the  possibility 
of  their  being  inhabited  by  men,  remains,  as  at  first,  a  mere 
conjecture,  without  any  trace  of  confirmatory  evidence.  It 
was  suggested  at  first  by  the  supposed  analogy  of  other  stars 
to  our  sun  ;  but  this  analogy  has  not  been  verified  in  any  in- 
stance ;  and  has  been,  we  conceive,  shown  in  many  cases,  to 
vanish  altogether.  And  that  there  may  be  such  a  plan  of 
creation, — one  in  which  the  moral  and  intelligent  race  of  man 
is  the  climax  and  central  point  to  which  innumerable  races  of 
mere  unintelligent  species  tend, — we  have  the  most  striking 
evidence,  in  the  history  of  our  own  earth,  as  disclosed  by 
geology.  We  are  left,  therefore,  with  nothing  to  cling  to,  on 
one  side,  but  the  bare  possibility  that  some  of  the  stars  are 
the  centres  of  systems  like  the  Solar  System ; — an  opinion 


THE     UNITY     OF     THE     WORLD.  289 

founded  upon  the  single  fact,  sliown  to  be  highly  ambiguous, 
of  those  stars  being  self-luminous  ;  and  to  this  possibility,  we 
oppose  all  the  considerations,  flowing  from  moral,  historical, 
and  religious  views,  which  represent  the  human  race  as  unique 
and  peculiar.  The  force  of  these  considerations  will,  of  course, 
be  different  in  different  minds,  according  to  the  importance 
which  each  person  attaches  to  such  moral,  historical,  and  re- 
ligious views ;  but  whatever  the  weight  of  them  may  be 
deemed,  it  is  to  be  recollected  that  we  have  on  the  other  side 
a  bare  possibility,  a  mere  conjecture ;  which,  though  suggested 
at  first  by  astronomical  discoveries,  all  more  recent  astronom- 
ical researches  have  failed  to  confirm  in  the  smallest  degree. 
In  this  state  of  our  knowledge,  and  with  such  grounds  of  be- 
lief, to  dwell  upon  the  Plurality  of  Worlds  of  intellectual  and 
moral  creatures,  as  a  highly  probable  doctrine,  must,  we  think, 
be  held  to  be  eminently  rash  and  unphilosophical. 

19.  On  such  a  subject,  where  the  evidences  are  so  imperfect, 
and  our  power  of  estimating  analogies  so  small,  far  be  it  from 
us  to  speak  positively  and  dogmatically.  And  if  any  one 
holds  the  opinion,  on  whatever  evidence,  that  there  are  other 
spheres  of  the  Divine  Government  than  this  earth, — other 
regions  in  which  God  has  subjects  and  servants, — other  beings 
who  do  his  will,  and  who,  it  may  be,  are  connected  with  the 
moral  and  religious  interests  of  man ; — we  do  not  breathe  a 
syllable  against  such  a  belief;  but,  on  the  contrary,  regard  it 
with  a  ready  and  respectful  sympathy.  It  is  a  belief  which 
finds  an  echo  in  pious  and  reverent  hearts  ;*  and  it  is,  of  itself, 

*  "  For  doubt  not  that  in  other  worlds  above 
There  must  be  other  offices  of  love, 
That  other  tasks  and  ministries  there  are, 
Since  it  is  promised  that  His  servants,  there, 
Shall  serve  Him  still." — Trench. 

lo 


290  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

an  evidence  of  that  religious  and  spiritual  character  in  man, 
which  is  one  of  the  points  of  our  argument.  But  the  discuss- 
ion of  sucli  a  belief  does  not  belong  to  the  present  occasion, 
any  further  than  to  observe,  that  it  would  be  very  rash  and 
unadvised, — a  proceeding  unwarranted,  we  think,  by  Religion, 
and  certainly  at  variance  with  all  that  Science  teaches, — to 
place  those  other,  extra-human  spheres  of  Divine  Government, 
in  the  Planets  and  in  the  Stars.  With  regard  to  the  planets 
and  the  stars,  if  we  reason  at  all,  we  must  reason  on  physical 
grounds  ;  we  must  suppose,  as  to  a  great  extent  we  can  prove 
that  the  laws  and  properties  of  terrestrial  matter  and  motioH 
apply  to  them  also.  On  such  grounds,  it  is  as  improbable 
that  visitants  from  Jupiter  or  from  Sirius  can  come  to  the 
Earth,  as  that  men  can  pass  to  those  stars  :  as  unlikely  that 
inhabitants  of  those  stars  know  and  take  an  interest  in  human 
affairs,  as  that  we  can  learn  what  they  are  doing.  A  belief  in 
the  Divine  Government  of  other  races  of  spiritual  creatures 
besides  the  human  race,  and  in  Divine  Ministrations  com- 
mitted to  such  beings,  cannot  be  connected  with  our  physical 
and  astronomical  views  of  the  nature  of  the  stars  and  the 
planets,  without  making  a  mixture  altogether  incongruous  and 
incoherent ;  a  mixture  of  what  is  material  and  what  is  spirit- 
ual, adverse  alike  to  sound  religion  and  to  sound  philosophy. 

20.  Perhaps  again,  it  may  be  said,  that  in  speaking  of  the 
shortness  of  the  time  during  which  man  has  occupied  the  earth, 
in  comparison  with  the  previous  ages  of  irrational  life,  and  of 
blank  matter,  we  are  taking  man  at  his  present  period  of  ex- 
istence on  the  earth  : — that  we  do  not  know  that  the  race  may 
not  be  destined  to  continue  upon  the  earth  for  as  many  ages  as 
preceded  the  creation  of  man.  And  to  this  we  reply,  that  in 
reasoning,  as  we  must  do,  at  the  present  period,  we  can  only 
proceed  upon  that  which  has  happened  up  to  the  present  period. 


THE     UNITY     OF     THE     WORLD.  291 

If  we  do  not  know  how  long  man  will  continue  to  inhabit  the 
earth,  we  cannot  reason  as  if  we  did  know  that  he  will  inhabit 
it  longer  than  any  other  species  has  done.  We  may  not  dwell 
upon  a  mere  possibility,  which,  it  is  assumed,  may  at  some  in- 
definitely future  period,  alter  the  aspect  of  the  facts  now  before 
us.  For  it  would  be  as  easy  to  assume  possibilities  which  may 
come  hereafter  to  alter  the  aspect  of  the  facts,  in  favor  of  the 
one  side,  as  of  the  other.*  What  the  future  destinies  of  our 
race,  and  of  the  earth,  may  be,  is  a  subject  which  is,  for  us, 
shrouded  in  deep  darkness.  It  would  be  very  rash  to  assume 
that  they  will  be  such  as  to  alter  the  impression  derived  from 
what  we  now  know,  and  to  alter  it  in  a  certain  preconceived 
manner.  But  yet  it  is  natural  to  form  conjectures  on  this  sub- 
ject ;  and  perhaps  we  miay  be  allowed  to  consider  for  a  moment 
what  kind  of  conjectures  the  existing  stage  of  our  knowledge 
suggests,  when  we  allow  ourselves  the  license  of  conjecturing. 
The  next  Chapter  contains  some  remarks  bearing  upon  such 
conjectures, 

*  For  instance,  we  may  assume  that  in  two  or  three  linndred  years, 
by  the  improvement  of  telescopes,  or  by  other  means,  it  may  be  ascer- 
tained that  the  other  planets  of  the  Solar  System  are  not  inhabited, 
and  that  the  other  Stars  are  not  the  centres  of  regular  systems. 


i 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  FUTUEE. 

1.  We  proceed  then  to  a  few  reflections  to  which  we  cannot 
but  feel  ourselves  invited  by  the  views  which  we  have  already 
presented  in  these  pages.  What  will  be  the  future  history  of 
the  human  race,  and  what  the  future  destination  of  each  indi- 
vidual, most  persons  will,  and  most  wisely,  judge  on  far  other 
grounds  than  the  analogies  which  physical  science  can  supply. 
Analogies  derived  from  such  a  quarter  can  throw  little  light  on 
those  grave  and  lofty  questions.  Yet  perhaps  a  few  thoughts 
on  this  subject,  even  if  they  serve  only  to  show  how  little  the 
light  thus  attainable  really  is,  may  not  be  an  unfit  conclusion 
to  what  has  been  said ;  and  the  more  so,  if  these  analogies  of 
science,  so  far  as  they  have  any  specific  tendency,  tend  to  con- 
firm some  of  the  convictions,  with  regard  to  those  weighty  and 
solemn  points, — the  destiny  of  Man,  and  of  Mankind, — which 
we  derive  from  other  and  higher  sources  of  knowledge. 

2.  Man  is  capable  of  looking  back  upon  the  past  history  of 
himself,  his  Race,  the  Earth,  and  the  Universe.  So  far  as  he 
has  the  means  of  doing  so,  and  so  far  as  his  reflective  powers 
are  unfolded,  he  carnot  refrain  from  such  a  retrospect.  As  we 
have  seen,  man  has  occupied  his  thoughts  with  such  contempla- 
tions, and  has  been  led  to  convictions  thereujion,  of  the  most 


I 


THE     FUTURE  293 

remarkable  and  striking  kind.  Man  is  also  capable  of  looking 
forwards  to  the  future  probable  or  possible  history  of  himself, 
his  race,  the  earth,  and  the  universe.  He  is  irresistibly  tempted 
to  do  this,  and  to  endeavor  to  shape  his  conjectures  on  the  Fu- 
ture, by  what  he  knows  of  the  Past.  He  attempts  to  discern 
what  future  change  and  progress  may  be  imagined  or  expected, 
by  the  analogy  of  past  change  and  progress,  which  have  been 
ascertained.  Such  analogies  may  be  necessarily  very  vague 
and  loose ;  but  they  are  the  peculiar  ground  of  speculation, 
with  which  we  have  here  to  deal.  Perhaps  man  cannot  dis- 
cover with  certainty  any  fixed  and  permanent  laws  which  have 
regulated  those  past  changes  which  have  modified  the  surface 
and  population  of  the  earth  ;  still  less,  any  laws  which  have 
produced  a  visible  progression  in  the  constitution  of  the  rest 
of  the  universe.  He  cannot,  therefore,  avail  himself  of  any 
close  analogies,  to  help  him  to  conjecture  the  future  course  of 
events,  on  the  earth  or  in  the  universe ;  still  less  can  he  apply 
any  known  laws,  which  may  enable  him  to  predict  the  future 
configurations  of  the  elements  of  the  world ;  as  he  can  predict 
the  future  configurations  of  the  planets  for  indefinite  periods. 
He  can  foresee  the  astronomical  revolutions  of  the  heavens,  so 
long  as  the  known  laws  subsist.  He  cannot  foresee  the  future 
geological  revolutions  of  the  earth,  even  if  they  are  to  be  pro- 
duced by  the  same  causes  which  have  produced  the  past  revo- 
lutions, of  which  he  has  learnt  the  series  and  order.  Still  less 
can  he  foresee  the  future  revolutions  which  may  take  place  in 
the  condition  of  man,  of  society,  of  philosophy,  of  religion ; 
still  less,  again,  the  course  which  the  Divine  Government  of 
the  world  will  take,  or  the  state  of  things  to  which,  even  as 
now  conducted,  it  will  lead. 

3.  All  these  subjects  are  covered  with  a  veil  of  mystery, 
which  science  and  philosophy  can  do  little  in  raising.  Yet  these 


294  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

are  subjects  to  which  the  mind  turns,  with  a  far  more  eager  cu- 
riosity, than  that  which  it  feels  with  regard  to  mere  geological 
or  astronomical  revolutions.  Man  is  naturally,  and  reasonably, 
the  greatest  object  of  interest  to  man.  What  shall  happen  to 
the  human  race,  after  thousands  of  years,  is  a  far  dearer  concern 
to  him,  than  what  shall  happen  to  Jupiter  or  Sirius  ;  and  even, 
than  what  shall  happen  to  the  continents  and  oceans  of  the 
globe  on  which  he  lives,  except  so  far  as  the  changes  of  his  domi- 
cile affect  himself.  If  our  knowledge  of  the  earth  and  of  the 
heavens,  of  animals  and  of  man,  of  the  past  condition  and 
present  laws  of  the  world,  is  quite  barren  of  all  suggestion 
of  what  may  or  may  not  hereafter  be  the  lot  of  man,  such 
knowledge  will  lose  the  charm  which  would  have  made  it  most 
precious  and  attractive  in  the  eyes  of  mankind  in  general. 
And  if,  on  such  subjects,  any  conjectures,  however  dubious, — 
any  analogies,  however  loose, — can  be  collected  from  what  we 
know,  they  will  probably  be  received  as  acceptable,  in  spite  of 
their  insecurity ;  and  will  be  deemed  a  fit  offering  from  the 
scientific  faculty,  to  those  hopes  and  expectations, — to  that  curi- 
osity and  desire  of  all  knowledge, — which  gladly  receive  their 
nutriment  and  gratification  from  every  province  of  man's 
being. 

4.  Now  if  we  ask,  what  is  likely  to  be  the  future  condition 
of  the  population  of  the  earth  as  compared  with  the  present ; 
we  are  naturally  led  to  recollect,  what  has  been  the  past  con- 
dition of  that  population  as  compared  with  the  present.  And 
here,  our  thoughts  are  at  once  struck  by  that  great  fact,  to 
which  we  have  so  often  referred  ;  which  we  conceive  to  be  es- 
tablished by  irrefragable  geological  evidence,  and  of  which  the 
importance  cannot  be  overrated  : — namely,  the  fact  that  the 
existence  of  man  upon  the  earth  has  been  for  only  a  few  thou- 
sand years : — that  for  thousands,  and  myriads,  and  it  may  be 


THE     FUTURE.  295 

for  millions  of  years,  previous  to  that  period,  the  earth  was 
tenanted,  entirely  and  solely,  by  brute  creatures,  destitute  of 
reason,  incapable  of  progress,  and  guided  merely  by  animal  in- 
stincts, in  the  preservation  and  continuation  of  their  races. 
After  this  period  of  mere  brute  existence,  in  innumerable  forms, 
had  endured  for  a  vast  series  of  cycles,  there  appeared  upon 
the  earth  a  creature,  even  in  his  organization,  superior  far  to 
all ;  but  still  more  superior,  in  his  possession  of  peculiar  en- 
dowments ; — reason,  language,  the  power  of  indefinite  progress, 
and  of  raising  his  thoughts  towards  his  Creator  and  Governor  : 
in  short,  to  use  terms  already  employed,  an  intellectual,  moral, 
religious,  and  spiritual  creature.  After  the  ages  of  intellect- 
ual darkness,  there  took  place  this  creation  of  intellectual  light. 
After  the  long-continued  play  of  mere  appetite  and  sensual  life, 
there  came  the  operation  of  thought,  reflection,  invention,  art, 
science,  moral  sentiments,  religious  belief  and  hope ;  and  thus, 
life  and  being,  in  a  far  higher  sense  than  had  ever  existed,  even 
in  the  hightest  degree,  in  the  long  ages  of  the  earth's  previous 
existence. 

5.  Now,  this  great  and  capital  fact  cannot  fail  to  excite  in  us 
many  reflections,  which,  however  vaguely  and  dimly,  carry  us 
to  the  prospect  of  the  future.  The  present  being  so  related  to 
the  past,  how  may  we  suppose  that  the  future  will  be  related 
to  the  present  1 

In  the  first  place,  this  is  a  natural  reflection.  The  terrestrial 
world  having  made  this  advance  from  brute  to  human  life,  can 
we  think  it  at  all  likely,  that  the  present  condition  of  the  earth's 
inhabitants  is  a  final  condition  1  Has  the  vast  step  from  animal 
to  human  life,  exhausted  the  progressive  powers  of  nature  1  or 
to  speak  more  reverently  and  justly,  has  it  completed  the  pro- 
gressive plan  of  the  Creator  ?  After  the  great  revolution  by 
which  man  became  what  he  is,  can  and  will  nothing  be  done, 


296  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

to  bring  into  being  something  better  than  now  is ;  however 
that  future  creature  may  be  related  to  man  1  We  leave  out  of 
consideration  any  supposed  progression,  which  may  have  taken 
place  in  the  animal  creation  previous  to  man's  existence ;  any 
progression  by  which  the  animal  organization  was  made  to  ap- 
proximate, gradually  or  by  sudden  steps,  to  the  human  organi- 
zation ;  partly,  because  such  successive  approximation  is  ques- 
tioned by  some  geologists ;  and  is,  at  any  rate,  obscure  and 
perplexed :  but  much  more,  because  it  is  not  really  to  our 
purpose.  Similarity  of  organization  is  not  the  point  in  ques- 
tion. The  endowments  and  capacities  of  man,  by  which  he  is 
Man,  are  the  great  distinction,  which  places  all  other  animals 
at  an  immeasurable  distance  below  him.  Tlie  closest  approxi- 
mation of  form  or  organs,  does  nothing  to  obliterate  this  dis- 
tinction. It  does  not  bring  the  m.onkey  nearer  to  man,  that 
his  tongue  has  the  same  muscular  apparatus  as  man's,  so  long 
as  he  cannot  talk  ;  and  so  long  as  he  has  not  the  thought  and 
idea  which  language  implies,  and  which  are  unfolded  indefi- 
nitely in  the  use  of  language.  The  step,  then,  by  which  the 
earth  became  a  human  habitation,  was  an  immeasurable  ad- 
vance on  all  that  existed  before  ;  and  therefore  there  is  a  ques- 
tion which  we  are,  it  seems,  irresistibly  prompted  to  ask,  Is 
this  the  last  such  step  1  Is  there  nothing  beyond  it  1  Man  is 
the  head  of  creation,  in  his  present  condition ;  but  is  that  con- 
dition the  final  result  and  ultimate  goal  of  the  progress  of  crea- 
tion in  the  plan  of  the  Creator  ]  As  there  was  found  and  pro- 
duced something  so  far  beyond  animals,  as  man  is,  may  there 
not  also,  in  some  course  of  the  revolutions  of  the  world,  be 
produced  something  far  beyond  what  man  is  1  The  question 
is  put,  as  implying  a  difficulty  in  believing  that  it  should  be  so ; 
and  this  difficulty  must  be  very  generally  felt.  Considering 
how  vast  the  resources  of  the  Creative  Power  have  been  shown 


THE     FUTURE.  297 

to  be,  it  is  difficult  to  suppose  they  are  exhausted.  Consider- 
ing how  great  things  have  been  done,  in.  the  progress  of  the 
work  of  creation,  we  naturally  think  that  even  greater  things 
than  these,  still  remain  to  be  done. 

6.  But  then,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  an  immense  difficulty 
m  supposing,  even  in  imagining,  any  further  change,  at  all  com- 
mensurate in  kind  and  degree,  with  the  step  which  carried  the 
world  from  a  mere  brute  population,  to  a  human  population. 
In  a  proportion  in  which  the  two  first  terms  are  hrute  and  man^ 
what  can  be  the  third  term"?  In  the  progress  from  mere  In- 
stinct to  Reason,  we  have  a  progress  from  blindness  to  sight ; 
and  what  can  we  do  more  than  see  %  When  pure  Intellect  is 
evolved  in  man,  he  approaches  to  the  nature  of  the  Supreme 
Mind :  how  can  a  creature  rise  higher  %  When  mere  impulse, 
appetite,  and  passion  are  placed  under  the  control  and  direction 
of  duty  and  virtue,  man  is  put  under  Divine  Government : 
what  greater  lot  can  any  created  being  have  % 

7.  And  the  difficulty  of  conceiving  any  ulterior  step  at  all 
analogous  to  the  last  and  most  wonderful  of  the  revolutions 
which  have  taken  place  in  the  condition  of  the  earth's  inhab- 
itants, will  be  found  to  grow  upon  us,  as  it  is  more  closely  ex- 
amined. For  it  may  truly  be  said,  the  change  which  occurred 
when  man  was  placed  on  the  earth,  was  not  one  which  could 
have  been  imagined  and  constructed  beforehand,  by  a  specula- 
tor merely  looking  at  the  endowments  and  capacities  of  the 
creatures  which  were  previously  living.  Even  in  the  way  of  or- 
ganization, could  any  intelligent  spectator,  contemplating  any- 
thing which  then  existed  in  the  animal  world,  have  guessed  the 
wonderful  new  and  powerful  purposes  to  which  it  was  to  be 
made  subservient  in  man  %  Could  such  a  spectator,  from  seeing 
the  rudiments  of  a  Hand^  m  the  horse  or  the  cow,  or  even  from 
seeing  the  hand  of  a  quadrumanous  animal,  have  conjectured,  that 

13* 


298  THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

the  Hand  was,  in  man,  to  be  made  an  instrument  bj  which  in- 
finite  numbers  of  new  instruments  were  to  be  constructed, 
subduing  the  elements  to  man's  uses,  giving  him  a  command 
over  nature  which  might  seem  supernatural,  taming  or  con- 
quering all  other  animals,  enabling  him  to  scrutinize  the  far- 
thest regions  of  the  universe,  and  the  subtlest  combinations  of 
material  things  1 

8.  Or  again;  could  such  a  spectator,  by  dissecting  the 
tongues  of  animals,  have  divined  that  the  Tongue,  in  man,  was 
to  be  the  means  of  communicating  the  finest  movements  of 
thought  and  feeling ;  of  giving  one  man,  weak  and  feeble,  an 
unbounded  ascendency  over  robust  and  angry  multitudes  ;  and, 
assisted  by  the  (writing)  hand,  of  influencing  the  intimate 
thoughts,  laws,  and  habits  of  the  most  remote  posterity  1 

9.  And  again,  could  such  a  spectator,  seeing  animals  en- 
tirely occupied  by  their  appetites  and  desires,  and  the  objects 
subservient  to  their  individual  gratification,  have  ever  dreamt 
that  there  should  appear  on  earth  a  creature  who  should  desire 
to  know,  and  should  know,  the  distances  and  motions  of  the 
stars,  future  as  well  as  present ;  the  causes  of  their  motions, 
the  history  of  the  earth,  and  his  own  history  ;  and  even  should 
know  truths  by  which  all  jDOSsible  objects  and  events  not  only 
are,  but  must  be  regulated  1 

10.  And  yet  again,  could  such  a  spectator,  seeing  that 
animals  obeyed  their  appetites  with  no  restraint  but  external 
fear,  and  knew  of  no  difierence  of  good  and  bad  except  the 
sensual  difierence,  ever  have  imagined  that  there  should  be  a 
creature  acknowledging  a  difference  of  right  and  wrong,  as  a 
distinction  supreme  over  what  was  good  or  bad  to  the  sense ; 
and  a  rule  of  duty  which  might  forbid  and  prevent  gratifica- 
tion by  an  internal  prohibition  ? 

11.  And  finally,  could  such  a  spectator,  seeing  nothing  but 


THE     FUTURE.  299 

animals  with  all  their  faculties  thus  entirely  immersed  in  the 
elemeiits  of  their  bodily  being,  have  supposed  that  a  creature 
should  come,  who  should  raise  his  thoughts  to  his  Creator, 
acknowledge  Him  as  his  Master  and  Governor,  look  to  His 
Judgment,  and  aspire  to  live  eternally  in  His  presence  *? 

12.  If  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  a  spectator  of  the 
prsehuman  creation,  however  intelligent,  imaginative,  bold  and 
inventive,  to  have  conjectured  beforehand  the  endowments  of 
such  a  creature  as  Man,  taking  only  those  which  we  have  thus 
indicated ;  it  may  well  be  thought,  that  if  there  is  to  be  a 
creature  which  is  to  succeed  man,  as  man  has  succeeded  the 
animals,  it  must  be  equalJy  impossible  for  us  to  conjecture  be- 
forehand, what  kind  of  creature  that  must  be,  and  what  will  be 
his  endowments  and  privileges. 

13.  Thus  a  spectator  who  should  thus  have  studied  the 
prsehuman  creation,  and  who  should  have  had  nothing  else  to 
help  him  in  his  conjectures  and  conceptions,  (of  course,  by  the 
supposition  of  a  pr£ehuman  period,  not  any  knowledge  of  the 
operation  of  intelligence,  though  a  most  active  intelligence 
would  be  necessary  for  such  speculations,)  would  not  have 
been  able  to  divine  the  future  appearance  of  a  creature,  so  ex- 
cellent as  Man ;  or  to  guess  at  his  endowments  and  privileges, 
or  his  relation  to  the  previous  animal  creation ;  and  just  as 
little  able  may  we  be,  even  if  there  is  to  exist  at  some  time, 
a  creature  more  excellent  and  glorious  than  man,  to  divine 
what  kind  of  creature  he  will  be,  and  how  related  to  man. 
And  here,  therefore,  it  would  perhaps  be  best,  that  we  should 
quit  the  subject ;  and  not  offer  conjectures  which  we  thus  ac- 
knowledge to  have  no  value.  Perhaps,  however,  the  few  brief 
remarks  which  we  have  still  to  make,  put  forwards,  as  they 
are,  m.erely  as    suggestions  to  be  weighed  by  others,   can 


300  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

not  reasonably  give  offence,  or  trouble  even  the  most  reverent 
thinker. 

14.  To  suppose  a  higher  development  of  endowments  which 
already  exist  in  man,  is  a  natural  mode  of  rising  to  the  imag- 
ination of  a  being  nobler  than  man  is  ;  but  we  shall  find  that 
such  hypotheses  do  not  lead  us  to  any  satisfactory  result. 
Looking  at  the  first  of  those  features  of  the  superiority  of  man 
over  brutes,  which  we  have  just  pointed  out,  the  Human 
Hand,  we  can  imagine  this  superiority  carried  further.  In- 
deed, in  the  course  of  human  progress,  and  especially  in  recent 
times,  and  in  our  own  country,  man  employs  instead  of,  or 
in  addition  to  the  hand,  innumerable  instruments  to  make 
nature  serve  his  needs  and  do  his  will.  He  works  by  Tools 
and  Machinery,  derivative  hands,  which  increase  a  hundred- 
fold the  power  of  the  natural  hand.  Shall  we  try  to  ascend 
to  a  New  Period,  to  imagine  a  New  Creature,  by  supposing 
this  power  increased  hundreds  and  thousands  of  times  more, 
so  that  nature  should  obey  man,  and  minister  to  his  needs,  in 
an  incomparably  greater  degree  than  she  now  does  ?  "We 
may  imagine  this  carried  so  far,  that  all  need  for  manual  labor 
shall  be  superseded ;  and  thus,  abundant  time  shall  be  left  to 
the  creature  thus  gifted,  for  developing  the  intellectual  and 
moral  powers  which  must  be  the  higher  part  of  its  nature.  But 
still,  that  higher  nature  of  the  creature  itself,  and  not  its  com- 
mand over  external  material  nature,  must  be  the  quarter  in 
which  we  are  to  find  anything  which  shall  elevate  the  creature 
above  man,  as  man  is  elevated  above  brutes. 

15.  Or,  looking  at  the  second  of  the  features  of  human 
superiority,  shall  we  suppose  that  the  means  of  Communica- 
tion of  their  thoughts  to  each  other,  which  exist  for  the  human 
race,  are  to  be  immensely  increased,  and  that  this  is  to  be  the 
leading  feature  of  a  New  Period  ?     Already,  in  addition  to 


THE     FUTURE.  301 

the  use  of  the  tongue,  other  means  of  communication  have 
vastly  multiplied  man's  original  means  of  carrying  on  the  in- 
tercourse of  thought : — writing,  employed  in  epistles,  books, 
newspapers ;  roads,  horses  and  posting  establishnnents ;  ships  ; 
railways ;  and,  as  the  last  and  most  notable  step,  made  in  our 
time,  electric  telegraphs,  extending  across  continents  and  even 
oceans.  "We  can  imagine  this  facility  and  activity  of  com- 
munication, in  which  man  so  imnaeasurably  exceeds  all  ani- 
mals, still  further  increased,  and  more  widely  extended.  But 
yet  s-D  long  as  what  is  thus  communicated  is  nothing  greater 
or  better  than  what  is  now  communicated  among  men  ; — such 
news,  such  thoughts,  such  questions  and  answers,  as  now  dart 
along  our  roads ; — we  could  hardly  think  that  the  creature, 
whatever  wonderful  means  of  intercourse  with  its  fellow- 
creatures  it  might  possess,  was  elevated  above  man,  so  as  to 
be  of  a  higher  nature  than  man  is. 

16.  Thus,  such  improved  endowments  as  we  have  now 
spoken  of,  increased  power  over  materials,  and  increased 
means  of  motion  and  communication,  arising  from  improved 
mechanism,  do  little,  and  we  may  say,  nothing,  to  satisfy  our 
idea  of  a  more  excellent  condition  than  that  of  man.  For 
such  extensions  of  man's  present  powers  are  consistent  with 
the  absence  of  all  intellectual  and  moral  improvement.  Men 
might  be  able  to  dart  from  place  to  place,  and  even  from 
planet  to  planet,  and  from  star  to  star,  on  wings,  such  as  we 
ascribe  to  angels  in  our  imagination :  they  might  be  able  to 
make  the  elements  obey  them  at  a  beck  ;  and  yet  they  might 
not  be  better,  nor  even  wiser,  than  they  are.  It  is  not  found 
generally,  that  the  improvement  of  machinery,  and  of  means 
of  locomotion,  among  men,  produces  an  improvement  in  mo- 
rality, nor  even  an  improvement  in  intelligence,  except  as  to 
particular  points.     We  must  therefore  look  somewhat  further 


302  THE    PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

ill  order  to  find  possible  characters,  which  may  enable  us  to 
imagine  a  creature  more  excellent  than  man. 

17.  Among  the  distinctions  which  elevate  man  above  brutes, 
there  is  one  which  we  have  not  mentioned,  but  which  is  really 
one  of  the  most  eminent.  We  niean,  his  faculty  and  habit 
of  forming  himself  into  Societies,  united  by  laws  and  language 
for  some  common  object,  the  furtherance  of  which  requires 
such  union.  The  most  general  and  primary  kind  of  such 
societies,  is  that  Civil  Society  which  is  bound  together  by  Law 
and  Government,  and  which  secures  to  men  the  Rights  of  prop- 
erty, person,  family,  external  peace,  and  the  like.  That  this 
kind  of  society  may  be  conceived,  as  taking  a  more  excellent 
character  than  it  now  possesses,  we  can  easily  see :  for  not 
only  does  it  often  very  imperfectly  attain  its  direct  object,  the 
preservation  of  Rights,  but  it  becomes  the  means  and  source 
of  wrong.  Not  only  does  it  often  fail  to  secure  peace  with 
strangers,  but  it  acts  as  if  its  main  object  were  to  enable  men 
to  make  wars  with  strangers.  If  we  were  to  conceive  a  Uni- 
versal and  Perpetual  Peace  to  be  established  among  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth  ;  (for  instance  by  some  general  agreement 
for  that  purpose ;)  and  if  we  were  to  suppose,  further,  that 
those  nations  should  employ  all  their  powers  and  means  in 
fully  unfolding  the  intellectual  and  moral  capacities  of  their 
members,  by  early  education,  constant  teaching,  and  ready 
help  in  all  ways ;  we  might  then,  perhaps,  look  forwards  to  a 
state  of  the  earth  in  which  it  should  be  inhabited,  not  indeed 
by  a  being  exalted  above  Man,  but  by  Man  exalted  above 
himself  as  he  now  is. 

18.  That  by  such  combinations  of  communities  of  men, 
even  with  their  present  powers,  results  may  be  obtained, 
which  at  present  appear  impossible,  or  inconceivable,  we  may 
find  good  reason  to  believe ;  looking  at  what  has  already  been 


THE     FUTURE.  303 

done,  or  planned  as  attainable  by  such  means,  in  the  promo- 
tion of  knowledge,  and  the  extension  of  man's  intellectual 
empire.  The  greatest  discovery  ever  m.ade,  the  discovery,  by 
Newton,  of  the  laws  which  regulate  the  motions  of  the  cosmi- 
cal  system,  has  been  carried  to  its  present  state  of  complete- 
ness, only  by  the  united  efforts  of  all  the  most  intellectual 
nations  upon  earth ;  in  addition  to  vast  labors  of  individ- 
uals, and  of  smaller  societies,  voluntarily  associated  for  the 
purpose.  Astronomical  observatories  have  been  established 
in  every  land ;  scientific  voyages,  and  expeditions  for  the  pur- 
pose of  observation,  wherever  they  could  throw  light  upon 
the  theory,  have  been  sent  forth ;  costly  instruments  have 
been  constructed,  achievements  of  discovery  have  been  re- 
warded ;  and  all  nations  have  shown  a  ready  sympathy  with 
every  attempt  to  forward  this  part  of  knowledge.  Yet  the 
largest  and  wisest  plans  for  the  extension  of  human  knowl- 
edge in  other  provinces  of  science  by  the  like  means,  have  re- 
mained hitherto  almost  entirely  unexecuted,  and  have  been 
treated  as  mere  dreams.  The  exhortations  of  Francis  Bacon 
to  men,  to  seek,  by  such  means,  an  elevation  of  their  intellect- 
ual condition,  have  been  assented  to  in  words ;  but  his  plans 
of  a  methodical  and  organized  combination  of  society  for  this 
purpose,  it  has  never  been  even  attempted  to  realize.  If  the 
nations  of  the  earth  were  to  employ,  for  the  promotion  of 
human  knowledge,  a  small  fraction  only  of  the  means,  the 
wealth,  the  ingenuity,  the  energy,  the  combination,  which  they 
have  employed  in  every  age,  for  the  destruction  of  human 
life  and  of  human  means  of  enjoyment ;  we  might  soon  find 
that  what  we  hitherto  knew,  is  little  compared  with  what  man 
has  the  power  of  knowing. 

19.  But  there  is  another  kind  of  Society,  or  another  object 
of  Society  among  men,  which  in  a  still  more  important  manner 


304  THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS. 

aims  at  the  elevation  of  their  nature.  Man  sympathizes  with 
man,  not  only  in  his  intellectual  aspirations,  but  in  his  moral 
sentiments,  in  his  religious  beliefs  and  hopes,  in  his  efforts 
after  spiritual  life.  Society,  even  Civil  Society,  has  generally 
recognized  this  sympathy,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  ;  and  has 
included  Morality  and  Religion,  among  the  objects  which  it 
endeavored  to  uphold  and  promote.  But  any  one  who  has 
any  deep  and  comprehensive  perception  of  man's  capacities 
and  aspirations,  on  such  subjects,  must  feel  that  what  has  com- 
monly, or  indeed  ever,  been  done  by  nations  for  such  a  pur- 
pose, has  been  far  below  that  which  the  full  development  of 
man's  moral,  religious,  and  spiritual  nature  requires.  Can  we 
not  conceive  a  Society  among  men,  which  should  have  for  its 
purpose,  to  promote  this  development,  far  more  than  any 
human  society  has  yet  done  ? — a  Body  selected  from  all  na- 
tions, or  rather,  including  all  nations,  the  purpose  of  which 
should  be  to  bind  men  together  by  a  universal  feeling  of 
kindness  and  mutual  regard,  to  associate  them  in  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  a  common  Divine  Lawgiver,  Governor,  and 
Father ; — to  unite  them  in  their  efforts  to  divest  themselves 
of  the  evil  of  their  human  nature,  and  to  bring  themselves 
nearer  and  nearer  to  a  conformity  with  the  Divine  Idea ;  and 
finally,  a  Society  which  should  unite  them  in  the  hope  of  such 
a  union  with  God  that  the  parts  of  their  nature  which  seem 
to  claim  immortality,  the  Mind,  the  Soul,  and  the  Spirit, 
should  endure  forever  in  a  state  of  happiness  arising  fi'om 
their  exalted  and  perfected  condition  1  And  if  we  can  sup- 
pose such  a  Society,  fully  established  and  fully  operative, 
would  not  this  be  a  condition,  as  far  elevated  above  the  ordi- 
nary earthly  condition  of  man,  as  that  of  man  is  elevated  above 
the  beasts  that  perish  ? 

20.  Yet  one  more  question ;  though  we  hesitate  to  mix  such 


THE   prrTURE.  305 

suggestions  from  analogy,  with  trains  of  thought  and  belief, 
which  have  their  proper  nutriment  from  other  quarters.  We 
know,  even  from  the  evidence  of  natural  science,  that  God  has 
interposed  in  the  history  of  this  Earth,  in  order  to  place  Man 
upon  it.  In  that  case,  there  was  a  clear,  and,  in  the  strongest 
sense  of  the  term,  a  supernatural  interposition  of  the  Divine 
Creative  Power.  God  interposed  to  place  upon  the  earth, 
Man,  the  social  and  rational  being.  God  thus  directly  insti- 
tuted Human  Society ;  gave  man  his  privileges  and  his  pros- 
pects in  such  society  ;  placed  him  far  above  the  previously  ex- 
isting creation  ;  and  endowed  him  with  the  means  of  an  eleva- 
tion of  nature  entirely  unlike  anything  which  had  previously 
appeared.  Would  it  then  be  a  violation  of  analogy,  if  God 
were  to  interpose  again,  to  institute  a  Divine  Society,  such  as 
we  have  attempted  to  describe ;  to  give  to  its  members  their 
privileges ;  to  assure  to  them  their  prospects  ;  to  supply  to 
them  his  aid  in  pursuing  the  objects  of  such  a  union  with  each 
other ;  and  thus,  to  draw  them,  as  they  aspire  to  be  drawn,  to 
a  spiritual  union  with  Him  ? 

It  would  seem  that  those  who  believe,  as  the  records  of 
the  earth's  history  seem  to  show,  that  the  establishment  of 
Man,  and  of  Human  Society,  or  of  the  germ  of  human  so- 
ciety, upon  the  earth,  was  an  interposition  of  Creative  Power 
beyond  the  ordinary  course  of  nature ;  'may  also  readily  be- 
lieve that  another  supernatural  Interposition  of  Divine  Power 
might  take  place,  in  order  to  plant  upon  the  earth  the  Germ  of 
a  more  Divine  Society ;  and  to  introduce  a  period  in  which 
the  earth  should  be  tenanted  by  a  more  excellent  creature  than 
at  present. 

21.  But  though  w^e  may  thus  prepare  ourselves  to  assent  to 
the  possibility,  or  even  probability,  of  such  a  Divme  Interpo- 
sition, exercised  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  upon  earth  a 


306  THE    PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

Divine  Society  :  it  would  be  a  rash  and  unauthorized  step,— ■ 
especially  taking  into  account  the  vast  differences  between  ma- 
terial and  spiritual  things, — to  assume  that  such  an  Interposi- 
tion would  have  any  resemblance  to  the  commencement  of  a 
New  Period  in  the  earth's  history,  analogous  to  the  Periods 
by  which  that  history  has  already  been  marked.  What  the 
manner  and  the  operation  of  such  a  Divine  Interposition  would 
be,  Philosophy  would  attempt  in  vain  to  conjecture.  It  is  con- 
ceivable that  such  an  event  should  produce  its  effect,  not  at 
once,  by  a  general  and  simultaneous  change  in  the  aspect  of 
terrestrial  things,  but  gradually,  by  an  almost  imperceptible 
progression.  It  is  possible  also  that  there  may  be  such  an  In- 
terposition, which  is  only  one  step  in  the  Divine  Plan ; — a 
preparation  for  some  other  subsequent  Interposition,  by  which 
the  change  in  the  Earth's  inhabitants  is  to  be  consummated.  Or 
it  is  possible  that  such  a  Divine  Interposition  in  the  history  of 
man,  as  we  have  hinted  at,  may  be  a  preparation,  not  for  a  new 
form  of  terrestrial  life,  but  for  a  new  form  of  human  life ; — 
not  for  a  new  peopling  of  the  Earth,  but  for  a  new  existence 
of  Man.  These  possibilities  are  so  vague  and  doubtful,  so  far 
as  any  scientific  analogies  lead,  that  it  would  be  most  unwise 
to  attempt  to  claim  for  them  any  value,  as  points  in  which  Sci- 
ence supplies  support  to  Religion.  Those  persons  who  most 
deely  feel  the  value  of  religion,  and  are  most  strongly  con- 
vinced of  its  truths,  will  be  the  most  willing  to  declare,  that 
religious  belief  is,  and  ought  to  be,  independent  of  any  such 
support,  and  must  be,  and  may  be,  firmly  established  on  its 
own  proper  basis. 

22.  We  find  no  encouragement,  then,  for  any  attempt  to 
obtain,  from  Science,  by  the  light  of  the  analogy  of  the  past, 
any  definite  view  of  a  future  condition  of  the' Creation.  And 
that  this  is  so,  we  cannot,  for  reasons  which  have  been  given. 


THE     FUTURE.  307 

feel  any  surprise.  Yet  the  reasonings  which  we  have,  in  va- 
rious parts  of  this  Essay,  pursued,  will  not  have  been  without 
profit,  even  in  their  influence  upon  our  religious  thoughts,  if 
they  have  left  upon  our  minds  these  convictions  : — That  if  the 
analogy  of  science  proves  anything,  it  proves  that  the  Creator 
of  man  can  make  a  Creator  as  far  superior  to  Man,  as  Man, 
when  most  intellectual,  moral,  religious,  and  spiritual,  is  supe- 
rior to  the  brutes  : — and  again.  That  Man's  Intellect  is  of  a  di- 
vine, and  therefore  of  an  immortal  nature.  Those  persons  who 
can,  on  any  basis  of  belief,  combine  these  two  convictions,  so 
as  to  feel  that  they  have  a  personal  interest  in  both  of  them ; 
— those  who  have  such  grounds  as  Religion,  happily  appealed 
to,  can  furnish,  for  hoping  that  their  imperishable  element  may, 
hereafter,  be  clothed  with  a  new  and  more  glorious  apparel  by 
the  hand  of  its  Almighty  Maker ; — ^may  be  well  content  to  ac- 
knowledge that  Science  and  Philosophy  could  not  give  them  this 
combined  conviction,  in  any  manner  in  which  it  could  minister 
that  consolation,  and  that  trust  in  the  Divine  Power  and  Good- 
ness, which  human  nature,  in  its  present  condition,  requires. 


NOTE. 

The  arguments  assigned  to  the  various  speakers  in  the  following 
Dialogue,  have  been  urged  in  conversation,  in  writing,  or  in  print, 
since  tie  Essay  was  first  published,  and  are  added  in  the  present 
edition. 


DIALOGUE 


ON    THE 


PLURALITY  OF  WORLDS; 


BEING 


A    SUPPLEMENT 


TO    THE 


ESSAY  ON  THAT  SUBJECT. 


Consider  first,  that  great 
Or  bright  infers  not  excellence:   the  Earth, 
Though  in  comparison  of  heaven,   so  small. 
Nor  glistening,  may  of  solid  good  contain 
More  plenty  than  the   Sun  that  barren  shines" 
"Whose  virtue  on  itself  works  no   effect. 
But  in  the  fruitful  earfh. — MiLTOif- 


DIALOGUE 


ON    THE 


PLURALITY    OF    WORLDS. 


A.  You  have  published  a  book  which  you  entitle  Of  the 
Plurality  of  Worlds :  but  the  main  tendency  of  what  you  say 
(although  your  assertions  do  not  go  quite  so  far),  is  to  disprove 
the  plurality  of  inhabited  worlds,  and  to  leave  the  impression 
that  this  earth  on  which  we  live  is  the  only  world ;  at  any 
rate,  the  only  world  of  intellectual  and  moral  creatures.  You 
ought,  therefore,  rather  to  have  entitled  your  book  Of  the 
Unity  of  the  World. 

Z.  I  do  not  think  such  a  title  would  have  conveyed  my 
meaning,  so  well  as  the  one  which  I  have  employed.  When 
the  Unity  of  the  World  has  once  been  put  forward  distinctly  as 
the  antithesis  to  the  Plurality  of  Worlds  (as  I  have  ventured 
to  put  it  in  the  course  of  the  Essay),  the  former  phrase  may 
be  understood  as  suggesting  this  antithesis  ;  but  without  such 
a  preparation,  the  term  unity  would  have  been  understood  as 
implying  a  connection  of  all  the  parts,  rather  than  an  exclusion 
of  a  plurality  of  similar  parts.  The  Plurality  of  Worlds  is  a 
current  and  celebrated  question  ;  and  whichever  side  I  take,  I 


312  A    DIALOGUE     ON 

may  adopt  for  my  title  the  phrase  by  which  the  question  has 
commonly  been  described. 

B.  Your  Essay  goes  to  prove,  not  the  Plurality  of  Worlds, 
but  the  '  singularity  of  the  World.'  You  might  have  taken 
that  title. 

Z.  Certainly,  if  I  wished  to  attract  attention  by  the 
'  singularity'  of  my  title-page.  But  you  know  as  well  as  I, 
that  the  term  si?igular  is  not  opposed  to  jplural  in  common 
language,  though  it  is  in  our  grammars  :  so  far  from  it,  in- 
deed, that  to  express  singular  in  that  sense,  we  use  unique^  or 
some  similar  term. 

A.  Well ;  we  will  allow  you  your  title  ;  but  you  will  find 
it  difficult  to  prove  to  the  world  in  general  the  singularity,  or 
uniqueness,  or  whatever  you  call  it,  of  the  world  in  which  we 
live.  The  plurality  of  worlds  is  a  notion  which  has  taken  pos- 
session of  the  popular  mind,  and  will  be  difficult  to  eject. 

Z.  Of  that  I  am  quite  aware.  I  only  proposed  to  show 
that  this  notion  has  been  taken  up  on  insufficient  grounds  ;  and 
that  the  most  recent  astronomical  discoveries  point  the  op- 
posite way. 

A.  But  you  are  aware  that  many  of  your  readers,  for  in- 
stance, my  friends,  C,  D,  &c.,  urge  what  they  consider  very 
strong  arguments,  against  the  opinions  of  the  Essay.  Do  you 
think  that  you  can  answer  all  these  objections  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  impartial  judges,  in  a  plain  and  simple  manner? 

Z.  I  am  quite  ready  to  make  the  attempt :  and  the  more 
so,  inasmuch  as  I  think  I  can  add  something  to  some  of  the  ar- 
guments which  I  have  used.    But  I  must  make  one  stipulation. 

A.     What  is  that  ? 

Z.  If  any  objections  are  urged  which  have  been  fully  dis- 
cussed in  the  Essay,  I  must  be  allowed  to  refer  the  objectors 
to  the  discussion  as  there  given.     There  would  be  no  use  in 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  313 

going  over  the  same  ground  again,  when  nothing  new  is  al- 
leged.    And  now  you  may  begin  your  objections. 

C.  How  can  you  think  that  all  the  stars  which  we  see  in 
the  vault  of  heaven  on  a  fine  winter's  night  are  either  made  for 
nothing,  or  made  to  give  a  scanty  gleam  of  light  to  the  earth  % 

Z.  I  do  not  pretend  to  know  for  what  purpose  the  stars 
were  made,  any  more  than  the  flowers,  or  the  crystalline 
gems,  or  other  innumerable  beautiful  objects  ;  as  I  have  said, 
Chapter  xi.  of  the  Essay,  Articles  1 — 11.  But  I  do  not  at  all 
doubt  that  the  stars  are  intended  and  fitted  to  draw  our 
thoughts  to  God,  as  I  have  said.  Chap.  xi.  Article  24,  and  Chap. 
XII.  Article  9  :  and  in  other  places.  And  this  they  never 
failed  to  do,  during  the  long  centuries  when,  as  yet,  men  never 
dreamt  of  their  having  inhabitants.  A  pious  man,  looking  at 
the  flowers  of  the  field,  said,  '  These  are  the  smiles  of  the  Cre- 
ator.' A  person  of  like  habits  of  mind  would  see,  in  the  stars, 
still  brighter  flashes  of  the  Divine  Eye ;  though  he  might  no 
more  think  of  peopling  them,  than  of  peopling  the  flowers 
with  inhabitants. 

D.  But  why  should  the  planets  and  stars  not  be  inhabited  1 
How  can  you  pretend  to  limit  the  power  of  the  Creator? 
Might  he  not  make  creatures  fitted  to  live  in  the  stars  ? 

Z.  This  I  have  answered,  Chap.  xi.  Art.  15,  &c.  No  doubt 
the  Creator  might  make  creatures  fitted  to  live  in  the  stars,  or 
in  the  small  planetoids,  or  in  the  clouds,  or  on  meteoric  stones  ; 
but  we  cannot  believe  that  he  has  done  this,  without  further  evi- 
dence. 

D.  But  we  have  the  evidence  of  analogy.  The  planets  are 
like  the  earth.     The  stars  are  like  the  sun. 

Z.  In  Chap.  viii.  Art.  9,  &c.,  I  have  considered  this  like- 
ness, as  regards  the  stars ;  and  as  to  the  evidence  of  analogy, 

14 


314  A     DIALOGUE     ON 

I  have  remarked,  Art.  29,  that  the  question  is  whether  'Lhere  is 
an  analogy.  It  appears  to  me  probable  that  there  is  not. 
The  likeness  of  the  planets  to  the  earth,  I  have  considered  at 
length  in  Chapters  ix.  and  x.  We  are  still  among  the  argu- 
ments, which,  as  I  conceive,  I  have  answered. 

^,  I  find  the  strongest  argument  of  all  against  your  doc- 
trine in  the  extraordinary  improbability  that  one  subordinate 
world,  in  the  totality  of  creation  as  we  see  it  around  us,  should 
be  thus  specialized. 

Z.  I  have  replied  to  this  argument.  Chap  viii.  Art.  27,  28. 
Of  improbabilities,  in  such  a  case  as  this,  we  cannot  know  any- 
thing. It  is  improbable  that  we  shall  have  unlike  results  in 
like  cases ;  but  we  do  not  know  that  the  cases  are  like :  or 
rather,  we  know  that  the  cases  are  in  many  respects  unlike. 
As  to  the  inhabited  world  being  a  "  subordinate"  body  ;  that 
fact  is  so  far  from  making  it  more  improbable  that  it  should 
be  the  inhabited  body,  that  most  persons,  even  who  hold  the 
other  subordinate  bodies,  the  planets,  to  be  inhabited,  do  not 
believe  that  the  primary  body,  the  sun,  is  inhabited. 

J^.  You  may  reason  as  you  will,  but  you  shall  never  per- 
suade me  that  the  planets  and  the  stars  are  not  inhabited. 

Z.  That,  I  confess,  is  an  argument  which  I  have  not  an- 
swered ;  nor  can. 

G.  But  let  us  come  more  to  points  of  detail.  You,  Mr. 
Essayist,  say  (Chap.  vii.  Art.  12)  that  the  resolution  of  the 
Nebulae  into  stars,  by  Lord  Rosse's  and  other  powerful  tele- 
scopes, is  merely  distinguishing  the  nebulous  mass  into  lumps^ 
and  that  we  have  no  right  to  call  these  lumps,  stars.  But 
surely  this  is  bold  phraseology.     We  have  the  same  righl  to 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  315 

call  these  bright  objects  stars^  as  we  have  to  call  any  others 
so.     You  might  just  as  well  call  Arcturus  or  Sirius  lumps. 

Z.  Not  exactly.  I  call  Arcturus  and  Sirius  stars^  because 
they  are  stars.  The  name  has  always  been  used  to  describe 
such  objects.  I  avoid  calling  the  dots  into  which  Nebulas  are 
resolved,  stars^  because  I  do  not  at  all  know  that  they  are  ob- 
jects of  the  same  kind  as  Arcturus  and  Sirius. 

F.  Why  not  1  they  differ  only  in  being  smaller,  and  re- 
quiring a  powerful  telescope  to  see  them  :  and  that  arises 
only  from  their  being  much  more  distant. 

Z.  They  differ  also  in  being  elements  of  Ncbulse,  which  is 
not  the  case  with  Arcturus  or  Sirius :  they  differ,  very  likely, 
as  a  cloud  of  dust  differs  from  a  rock.  The  dust  may  be  re- 
solvable into  microscopic  masses  of  stone  :  but  it  may  also 
consist  of  vegetable  and  animal  fragments  :  and  it  is  possible 
that  its  small  portions  may  not  be  of  stony  consistence.  I 
would  not  call  a  cloud  of  dust  a  host  of  rocks,  merely  because 
a  small  speck  of  stone  may  possibly  appear,  in  the  microscope, 
as  a  rock. 

And  then  as  to  the  Nebulae  being  much  more  distant  than 
the  Fixed  Stars : — are  you  sure  of  that '?  How  do  you 
know  it  % 

F.  Why,  are  not  all  intelligent  persons  agreed  that  it  is  so  % 

Z.  Not  all  astronomers,  certainly.  I  have  commenced  my 
speculations  on  this  subject,  not  with  an  opinion  only,  but  with 
a  proof,  supplied  by  Sir  John  Herschel,  that  the  fact  is  not  so  : 
— that  the  Nebulae,  as  a  class  of  objects,  are  not  more  distant 
than  the  Fixed  Stars.  The  proof  is  drawn  from  the  Magel- 
lanic clouds;  see  the  Essay,  vii.  10;  and  is,  I  think,  a  very 
solid  starting  point  for  such  speculations. 

I  have  also  proved,  I  think,  (vii.  14,)  that  the  dim  parts  of 
nebulre  cai-not  be  much  further  distant  than  the  bright  parts  ; 


316  A    DIALOGUE     ON 

and  that  therefore  nebular  dimness  does  not  prove  a  greater 
distance  than  stellar  brightness. 

But  I  can  also  add  Lord  Rosse's  authority  for  the  opinion 
that  the  nebulae  are  not  more  distant  than  many  of  the  fixed 
stars.  In  his  address  to  the  Royal  Society,  which  he  delivered 
as  President  last  November,  he  says,  "  There  are  double  stars 
known  to  be  physically  double  from  their  motions,  which  are 
probably  as  distant  as  some  of  the  nebulee.  In  certain  nebulae 
stars  are  so  peculiarly  situated  that  we  can  scarcely  doubt 
their  connection  with  the  nebular  system  in  which  we  see 
them,  and  some  of  these  stars  are  as  bright  as  some  of  the 
stars  known  to  be  physically  double  :  as  bright  even  as  some 
of  the  stars  which  the  latest  Pulkova  observations  have 
shown  to  have  sensible  parallax,  and  whose  distance  therefore 
is  approximately  known."  Here,  you  see,  authority  the 
highest,  observations  the  best  and  most  recent,  countenance 
me  in  placing  the  nebulae  at  distances  of  the  same  order  as 
fixed  stars  : — even  as  the  fixed  stars  which  have  parallax,  and 
therefore  are  the  nearest  to  us. 

F.  Would  you  then  make  the  irregular  nebulae  to  be 
mere  floating  clouds  of  luminous  matter,  at  a  little  distance 
from  us  % 

Z.  Not  at  a  little  distance  ;  for  they  are  at  any  rate  as  far 
off*  as  the  nearest  fixed  stars ;  which  is,  you  know,  200,000 
times  the  distance  of  the  sun.  But  as  for  their  being  luminous 
clouds,  I  do  not  think  their  consistency  is  unreasonably  dis- 
paraged by  calling  them  so.  A  great  astronoijier  once  told 
me  that  he  doubted  whether  one  of  these  nebulae  contained 
luminous  matter  enough  to  light  a  good  sized  room.  I  do 
not  saj  this.  But  I  think  if  we  were  in  the  middle  of  one  of 
them  without  a  sun,  it  is  pretty  certain  we  should  not  be  able 
to  read  small  print  by  the  light. 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  317 

O.  In  your  zeal  for  reducing  the  Nebulas  to  a  state  of  thin 
luminous  vapor,  you  overlook  the  close  agreement  between 
the  Nebulge  and  the  Galaxy.  Both  contain  nebular  light  of 
the  same  aspect ;  and  we  cannot  reasonably  assume  that  they 
are  substances  of  different  kind. 

Z.     And  what  inference  do  you  draw  from  this  similarity  % 

G.  This.  The  nebulous  portions  of  the  Galaxy  are  re- J 
solvable,  by  telescopic  aid,  into  stars.  These  stars,  we  have 
reason  to  believe,  are  of  the  same  nature  as  bright  Fixed 
Stars ;  for  there  appears  to  be  a  gradation  from  the  bright 
stars  lying  in  the  Galaxy,  to  the  smallest  stars  of  the  Galaxy  ; 
and  from  these  smallest  obvious  stars,  to  the  telescopic  stars 
into  which  the  nebular  parts  of  the  Galaxy  are  resolved.  And 
therefore  the  telescopic  stars  into  which  the  other  Nebulse  are 
resolved,  are  of  the  same  nature  as  the  bright  Fixed  Stars. 
You  see  I  have  four  Terms  compared,  and  I  assert  that  these 
Terms  are  of  the  same  kind  :  Bright  stars ;  small  stars  in  the 
Galaxy ;  resolved  stars  in  the  Galaxy ;  resolved  stars  in 
Nebulae.  And  I  say  that  in  the  transition  from  any  one  of 
these  Terms  to  any  other,  there  is  nothing  which  authorizes  us 
to  suppose  that  we  are  passing  from  an  object  of  one  kind  to 
an  object  of  another  kind. 

Z.  An  excellent  argument,  and  one  which  it  is  very  im- 
portant for  me  to  examine  well.  If  all  the  four  links  of  your 
chain  hold,  you  will  go  near  to  pull  down  the  doctrine  of  the 
Essay  about  Nebulae. 

G,  So  I  think.  And  yet,  which  of  the  links  has  any  flaw 
in  it  % 

Z.  You  speak  of  them  much  more  strongly  than  the  case 
will  justify,  when  you  talk  of  them  as  links  without  flaw.  The 
arguments  are  all  of  the  pourquoi  non  form  ;  which,  as  I  have 
said,  generall}  admits  of  being  retorted.     Three  or  four/)owr- 


318  A     DIALOGUE     ON 

quoi  nons  do  not  make  a  very  strong  chain,  even  if  none  of 
the  questions  be  answered. 

But  let  us  take  the  special  case.  You  say,  Why  should  not 
the  smallest  stars  of  the  Galaxy  be  of  the  same  nature  as  the 
larger  1  And  why  should  not  the  nebular  parts  of  the  Galaxy 
be  of  the  same  nature  as  the  star  powder  1  And  why  should 
not  the  other  Nebulae  be  of  the  same  nature  as  the  nebular 
parts  of  the  Galaxy  1 

To  this  I  might  reply  by  reversing  the  series.  The  Nebulae 
are  not  of  the  same  nature  as  the  Fixed  Stars,  as  Herschel 
proves  from  the  Magellanic  clouds ;  as  Lord  Rosse  holds  on 
the  ground  of  his  own  observations ;  and  as  appears  by  the 
straggling  nebulae.  Therefore  either  the  other  nebulas  are 
unlike  the  galactic  nebulous  matter,  or  the  galactic  nebulae  are 
different  from  the  galactic  stars  ;  or  the  galactic  stars  are  dif- 
ferent from  the  fixed  stars. 

And  in  truth,  is  it  not  plain  that  in  this,  as  in  other  in 
stances,  it  is  not  identity,  but  gradation  of  cases,  which  will 
explain  the  phenomena  1  The  largest  definite  fixed  stars  are 
different,  in  consistency  at  least,  from  the  filaments  and  tails 
of  straggling  nebulee.  But  they  may  be  of  the  same  sub- 
stance ;  and  in  that  case,  there  may  be  intermediate  kinds  of 
bodies,  smaller  stars,  smaller  than  the  largest  stars,  more  defi- 
nite than  the  nebulae.  And  while  the  parts  of  the  universe 
nearest  to  us  are  gathered  into  stellar  masses,  of  which  our  sun 
is  a  large  and  definite  portion  {whi/  not  the  largest  ?),  the  further 
portions  of  the  galactic  stratum  may  consist  of  smaller  stars ; 
and  the  farthest  portion,  of  nebular  matter  not  gathered  into 
stars  at  all. 

G.     But  this  is  a  mere  arbitrary  conjecture. 

Z.  But  the  equality  or  approximate  equality  of  all  stars, 
obviors  and  telescopic,  merely  because  they  are  stars,  is  no 


THE  PLURALITY  OF  WORLDS.  319 

less  a  mere  arbitrary  conjecture.  My  conjecture  has  the  ad- 
vantage of  explahiing  the  difference  of  stars  and  nebulse  ; 
which  is  so  strongly  supported  by  the  best  astronomers,  as  I 
have  shown  you. 

G.  But  your  scheme  makes  the  solar  system  the  centre 
of  the  Universe  1 

Z  Not  quite  that.  But  if  it  did,  are  you  prepared  to  add, 
which  is  absurd? 

G.  It  is  at  least  contrary  to  the  general  current  of  modern 
speculation  ;  which  ever  since  the  discovery  of  the  telescope, 
has  been  running  strongly  against  the  ascription  of  any  such 
peculiar  character  to  the  solar  system. 

Z.  But  it  is  a  very  common,  almost  universal  occurrence, 
that  such  strong  currents  of  speculation  overrun  the  point  of 
equilibrium  where  truth  resides. 

H.  You  would  have  us  believe  then,  that  the  stars  of  the 
Milky  Way  are  smaller  and  smaller,  as  they  are  further  from 
the  sun. 

Z.  If  you  reject  such  a  supposition,  what  is  the  alternative 
hypothesis  ? 

H.  That  the  stars  in  the  Milky  Way  are,  in  a  general  way, 
of  the  same  size  as  our  Sun.     And  why  not  ? 

Z,  Perhaps  we  may  soon  see  a  possible  reason  why  not. 
But  as  I  now  understand  you,  this  collection  of  stars,  of  the 
order  of  our  Sun,  forms  a  stratum  in  which  we  are  placed, 
and  see  its  mass  edgeways,  and  thus  we  see  the  Milky  Way 
And  this  stratum  seen  afar  off  is  a  nebula.  Is  not  this  your 
doctrine  1 

H.     Sir  William  Herschel's,  as  well  as  mine. 

Z.     But  tliis  stratum  of  stars,  is  it  finite  or  infinite  in  extent  % 

H.     Finite,  I  suppose ;  for   otherwise  our  nebula  would 


320  A    DIALOGUE     ON 

differ  from  all  others ;  to  say  nothing  of  other  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  an  infinite  stratum  of  stars. 

Z.     Then  being  finite,  it  has  a  boundary,  has  it  not  % 

H.     Of  course. 

Z.  And  the  stars  next  this  boundary  are  as  large  as  those 
near  the  middle  of  the  stratum  % 

^.  In  a  general  way  ;  but  probably  with  great  irregu- 
larities.    And  still,  why  not  % 

Z.  Have  we  any  examples  in  the  distribution  of  bodies 
in  the  Universe,  of  a  great  number  of  co-ordinate  masses,  of 
about  the  same  size,  with  no  subordination  to  a  principal  body, 
or  gradation  from  great  to  small  ?  You  will  understand  the 
meaning  of  my  question,  if  you  consider  that  we  have  many 
examples  of  the  opposite  arrangement ; — a  principal  body 
with  many  inferior  ones  ;  a  large  body  with  many  small 
ones.  Thus  we  have  the  vast  Sun,  and  the  comparatively 
small  masses  of  the  planets :  the  great  mass  of  Jupiter  at- 
tended by  his  minute  satellites :  the  bulk  of  Saturn  accompa- 
nied by  his  satellites :  of  Uranus,  by  his.  But  we  have  no- 
where, so  far  as  I  know,  a  collection  of  satellites  without  a 
primary  planet ;  or  of  planets,  without  a  sun.  Why,  then,  a 
collection  of  suns  without  any  body  of  superior  dignity  to 
keep  them  in  order  ? 

H.  But  that  analogy  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  there 
is  a  body  of  superior  dignity  ; — a  primary  sun  about  which 
our  sun  revolves  as  a  secondary. 

Z,  To  suppose  such  a  sun,  when  we  do  not  see  it,  would 
be  very  wild.  The  analogy  is  not  strong  enough  to  bear  the 
weight  of  such  an  inference,  directly  in  the  teeth  of  all  fiicts. 
If  such  a  primary  sun  were  big  enough  for  our  system  to  re- 
volve round,  it  must  be  big  enough  for  us  to  see.  Or  if  you 
suppose  the  solar  system  to  revolve  round  an  invisible  centre, 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  821 

you  invent  a  mechanism  as  arbitrary  as  the  crystalline  spheres 
of  the  ancients,  without  anything  like  the  same  amount  of 
excuse.  But  if  you  are  bent  upon  having  a  central  body,  why 
should  you  not  make  our  Sun  the  principal  body  in  the  uni- 
verse, as  it  is  the  greatest  which  we  know  of? 

H.     But  the  stars  do  not  revolve  round  our  Sun. 

Z.  I  believe  it  will  be  as  easy  to  explain  the  minute  ap- 
parent proper  motions  of  the  stars  by  supposing  them  to  re- 
volve round  our  Sun  in  due  directions,  and  at  due  distances, 
as  in  any  other  way.  But  even  if  the  Sun  were  the  largest 
body  in  the  universe,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  all  the  other 
bodies  must  revolve  about  him.  They  might  all  have  in- 
dependent motions,  slightly  modified  by  the  natural  attrac- 
tion of  all : — slightly,  I  say,  on  account  of  the  immense 
distances  of  all,  and  the  probable  extreme  tenuity  of  substance 
of  many.  My  own  opinion  is,  too,  that  these  motions  are  far 
too  minute  and  uncertain  to  draw  from  them,  as  yet,  any  con- 
clusion as  to  cosmical  arrangements;  therefore  I  avoid  this 
obscure  part  of  astronomy. 

/.  You  argue  too  much  from  the  spiral  form  of  some  of 
the  Nebulae.  It  belongs  to  very  few  of  them,  and  is  not  a 
general  feature  in  the  aspect  of  the  Nebulas. 

Z.  I  argue  from  such  features  in  the  Nebulee  as  I  can  find 
noticed  by  the  best  observers.  The  features  from  which  any 
inference  can  be  drawn  are  very  few,  and  we  must  make  the 
most  of  those  which  we  have.  But  with  regard  to  the  spiral 
form  of  the  Nebulee,  I  reason  as  Lord  Rosse  reasons,  in  the 
Presidential  Address  which  I  have  already  quoted:  "It  is 
probable  that  in  the  Nebular  systems  motion  exists.  If  we 
see  a  system  with  a  distinct  spiral  arrangement,  all  analogy 
leads  us  to  conclude  that  there  has  been  motion,  and  that  if 


322  A     DIALOGUE     ON 

there  has  been  motion,  it  still  continues."  I  add  to  this,  that 
if  the  motion  be  very  slow,  the  mass  must  be  very  much  at- 
tenuated. I  pray  you,  attend  for  a  moment  to  this  part  of  my 
reasoning. 

The  radius  of  the  Earth's  orbit  is  about  100  times  the 
Sun's  diameter,  or  200  times  the  Sun's  radius.  If  the  sun's 
mass  were  diffused  in  patches  of  pretty  uniform  density 
through  the  sphere  which  the  earth's  orbit  girdles,  the  density 
of  the  solar  matter  would  be  8,000,000  times  less  than  its 
present  density,  which  is  that  of  water.  But  in  this  case, 
each  patch  would  tend  to  make  a  complete  revolution  round 
the  centre  in  one  year  ;  and  if  by  the  resistance  of  the  other 
parts  it  were  made  to  describe  a  spiral,  it  would  still  move  at 
nearly  the  same  rate.  But  we  have  the  strongest  reason  to 
believe  that  the  motion  of  the  patches  of  the  spiral  nebulae, 
and  of  the  nebulce  of  all  forms,  is  very  much  slower  than  this  ; 
slower  by  hundreds  of  times,  for  no  such  motion  has  yet  been 
detected.  And  therefore  the  density  of  the  nebulae  must  be 
very  much  smaller  than  that  extremely  small  density  which  I 
have  already  mentioned.  It  must  be  millions  of  times, 
probably,  less  than  the  density  of  air. 

And  then,  as  to  there  being  few  spiral  nebulae,  listen  again 
to  Lord  Rosse,  who  says  that  probably  there  are  only  a  few 
normal  forms  of  these  objects,  and  that  their  great  apparent 
variety  probably  arises  from  the  different  positions  in  which 
we  look  at  them.  He  would  have  them  carefully  measured 
and  sketched,  in  the  hope  that  out  of  the  apparent  confusion 
we  may  succeed  in  extracting  their  normal  forms.  We  cannot 
doubt  that  one,  at  least,  of  the  principal  normal  forms  is  a 
spiral,  or  group  of  spirals.  And  if  we  take  any  other  tol- 
eral)ly  definite  form  of  Nebula,  we  may  reason  upon  it  in  the 
same  manner.     It  must  be  kept  in  its  definite  form  by  a  mo- 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  323 

tion  of  revolution  ;  which  will  be  slow,  m  proportion  to  the 
tenuity  of  the  mass.  But  all  these  motions  of  revolution  are 
hitherto  imperceptibly  slow,  therefore  the  mass  of  each  nebula 
is  incalculably  attenuated. 

If  I  wished  for  new  evidence  of  the  tenuity  of  nebular  mat- 
ter from  its  general  aspect,  I  might  again  quote  this  Address 
of  Lord  Rosse.  He  says  that  among  the  Nebulae,  "  there  are 
vast  numbers  much  too  faint  to  be  sketched  or  measured  with 
any  prospect  of  advantage  ;  the  most  powerful  instruments 
we  possess  showing  in  them  nothing  of  an  organized  structure, 
but  merely  a  confused  mass  of  nebulosity  of  varying  bright- 
ness." Do  you  still  hold  that  this  confused  mass  of  nebulosity 
consists  of  innumerable  suns,  each  the  centre  of  a  planetary 
system  ? 

/.  But  why  should  the  substances  in  this  our  world  be  so 
m.uch  more  dense  than  those  in  distant  parts  of  the  universe  1 

Z.  If  I  prove  to  you  that  they  are  so,  I  shall  hardly  need 
to  give  you  reasons  why  they  should  be  so.  But  yet  I  might 
say  that  they  should  be  so,  in  order  that  this  our  world  might 
be  a  world.  We  are,  and  live  upon,  the  solid  and  substantial 
part  of  the  universe  ;  the  nebulse  are  tracts  in  which  no  crea- 
tures could  live,  except  such  as  could  make  the  zodiacal  light 
their  dwelling-place. 

And  so  it  appears,  I  think,  that  I  am  supported  by  the  ob- 
servations and  opinions  of  the  best  astronomers,  when  I  say 
that  I  have  cleared  away  the  inhabitants  of  the  Nebulas. 

I{^.  But  you  will  find  the  clearing  away  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Fixed  Stars,  or  their  planetary  systems,  a  harder  task. 
Why  should  you  not  allow  us  to  believe  that  there  are  such 
inhabitants  1  You  cannot  deny  that  our  Sun,  seen  from  one 
of  the  fixed  stars,  would  look  as  Sirius  looks  to  us,  and  that 


324  A     DIALOGUE     ON 

all  the  Planets  would  be  imperceptible.  Is  not  this  good 
reason  for  supposing  that  there  is  a  Sirian  system  as  there  is  a 
Solar  system  1 

Z.  Let  me  ask,  in  reply,  whether  it  is  not  a  strange  way 
of  finding  good  reason  for  supposing  the  existence  of  a  system, 
to  go  so  far  off  that  you  cannot  see  whether  it  is  there  or  not  ? 
You  may  go  so  far  from  the  Sun  that  he  will  look  like  Sirius, 
as  you  may  go  so  far  from  a  house  that  it  will  look  like  a 
rock ;  but  this  does  not  prove,  nor  make  it  probable,  that  a 
class  of  objects  which  look  like  rocks  are  really  houses. 

£^.  This  proves  that  such  objects  may  be  houses  ;  and  so, 
the  stars  may  be  inhabited. 

Z.  May  be,  so  far  as  we  can  judge  from  looking  at  them  in 
this  way.  But  perhaps  we  can  obtain  also  other  means  of 
judging. 

£'.  Yes ;  but  here  again  you  take  the  exceptional  cases  to 
reason  from  : — Double  Stars,  Changeable  Stars,  and  the  like. 
A.nd  yet,  how  few  stars  of  this  kind  are  there,  compared 
with  the  whole  collection  of  stars  ! 

Z.  I  reason  from  such  cases,  because  such  cases  give  me 
something  to  reason  from.  But  here  again,  as  with  the 
nebulee,  I  think  you  will  find  that  the  most  recent  views  of  the 
best  astronomers  do  not  represent  as  so  very  rare,  the  cases 
from  which  I  reason.  In  the  great  work  which  M.  Struve  has 
lately  published,  containing  the  record  of  his  labors  on  Double 
Stars  at  Dorpat,  he  gives,  as  the  result  of  his  carefal  examina- 
tion and  comparison  of  the  whole  body  of  facts  in  stellar  astron- 
omy, some  conclusions  which  may  perhaps  startle  you  and 
others  who  reagard  Double  and  Multiple  Stars  as  cases  so 
completely  exceptional.  lie  examines  especially  the  brighter 
stars, — those  comprised  between  the  first  and  fourth  mag- 
nitudes,— and  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  every  fourth  star 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  325 

of  s\  ich  stars  in  the  heavens  is  physically  double.  He  even 
ventures  to  assert  that  when  we  have  acquired  a  more  com- 
plete knowledge  of  double  stars,  it  will  be  found  that  every 
third  bright  star  is  physically  double.  Applying  these  con- 
siderations to  the  stars  of  inferior  orders  of  magnitude, 
he  finally  arrives  at  the  following  conclusion,  which  he  admits 
to  be  of  an  unexpected  character : — that  the  number  of  in- 
sulated stars  is  indeed  greater  than  the  number  of  compound 
systems ;  but  only  three  times,  perhaps  only  twice  as  great. 
Now,  if  we  recollect  that  the  double  and  multiple  stars  cannot 
be  supposed  to  have  systems  of  planets  except  by  the  making 
most  arbitrary  hypotheses,  in  defiance  of  all  analogy  ;  and 
that,  of  the  single  stars,  a  large  proportion  may  be  irregular 
masses,  or  limited  nebular  patches,  very  unlike  the  sun,  as  we 
know  that  some  are ;  it  would  seem  to  be  a  very  bold  and 
baseless  assumption,  that  they  all,  or  the  great  majority  of 
them,  have  attendant  planets,  as  our  Sun  has. 

K.  But  surely  it  would  be  very  bold  to  maintain  that  of 
all  the  innumerable  stars  which  spangle  the  sky,  and  which 
astronomers  have  hitherto  held  to  be  bodies  of  the  same  na- 
ture as  our  sun,  not  one  is  really  like  the  sun,  in  having 
planets  revolving  round  him. 

Z.  It  would  be  very  bold  to  maintain  that  all  have  not ; 
and  no  less  bold,  it  seems  to  me,  to  maintain  that  many  have, 
or  even  that  one  has,  without  further  evidence.  Of  the  nature 
of  the  stars,  we  know  scarcely  anything,  except  that  they  are 
seemingly  self-shining,  very  nearly  fixed  (as  to  our  sense),  and 
exceedingly  distant  from  us.  In  this  state  of  ignorance,  to  as- 
sert that  they  have,  and  that  they  have  not,  attendant  planets, 
would  be  alike  rash.  To  assert  that  if  they  ha\e  attendant 
planets,  these  planets  have  inhabitants,  would  be  more  rash ; 
and   still   much  more,   if  it   appear   probable,   as  I  think  it 


326  A     DIA1.OGUE     DN 

will,  that  the  other  planets  of  our  system  have  not  inhabit- 
ants. If  we  fix  our  thoughts  on  any  "  bright  particular 
star,"  we  may  easily  imagine  it  to  have  inhabitants ;  as  we 
may  easily  imagine  a  central  cavity  in  the  earth  tenanted 
by  inhabitants.  But  the  only  way  of  passing  judgment  on 
such  imaginations  with  regard  to  the  Fixed  Stars,  is  to  look 
at  the  Fixed  Stars  as  a  class  of  objects.  Now  as  a  class  of 
objects  which  we  may  imagine  to  be  inhabited,  the  Fixed 
Stars  stand  between  the  Planets  and  the  Nebula  ;  more 
remote  than  the  Planets,  but  limited  in  form  like  them  ; 
distant  and  luminous  like  the  Nebulse.  I  think  I  have  proved 
that  the  Nebulae  are  not  habitations  ;  I  think  I  make  it  probable 
that  the  Planets  in  general  are  not.  This  being  so,  it  seems 
contrary  to  the  scheme  of  gradation  on  which  nature  generally 
proceeds,  to  say  that  the  intermediate  class  are  habitations : — 
or  rather,  centres  of  systems  of  inhabited  masses,  of  which 
masses  the  very  existence  is  quite  unproved. 

K.  But  their  being  the  centres  of  such  systems  is  proved 
by  analogy  from  their  resemblance  to  the  Sun. 

Z.  But  the  evidence  of  this  resemblance  was  always  very 
loose  ;  and  becomes  the  feebler,  the  more  it  is  examined,  as  I 
have  been  telling  you,  on  Struve's  authority.  It  appears,  by 
his  researches,  that  one-third  of  the  Fixed  Stars  differ  from  our 
Sun,  in  the  broad  fact  of  not  being  single  masses,  but  systems 
of  two  or  more  luminous  masses  lying  near  each  other,  or  re- 
volving about  one  another ;  which  entirely  puts  an  end  to  any 
probability  of  a  planetary  system  on  the  ground  of  analogy. 
To  these  cases  of  differences,  which  exfst  between  the  stars  and 
the  sun,  you  must  add  the  other  known  kinds  of  difference,  as 
the  cases  of  variable  stars ;  and  you  will  hardly  doubt,  that 
when  there  exist  several  known  kinds  of  difference,  in  a  class 
of  objects  of  which  we  know  so  little,  there  must  be  other 


THE     PLUEALITY     OF     WORLDS.  327 

kinds  of  difference,  wliicli  are  unhnoivn.  So  that  tlie  assump- 
tion of  stellar  planetary  systems,  on  the  ground  of  the  close 
resemblance  between  the  stars  and  the  sun,  appears  to  dwindle 
away  to  nothing,  when  closely  scrutinized. 

L.  I  allow  that  if  you  disprove  the  existence  of  inhabitants 
in  the  Planets  of  our  system,  I  shall  not  feel  much  real  inter- 
est in  the  possible  inhabitants  of  the  Sirian  system.  Neigh- 
borhood has  its  influence  upon  our  feelings  of  regard,  even 
neighborhood  on  a  scale  of  millions  of  miles.  And  this  being 
so,  I  think  you  are  very  hard  upon  our  neighbors  in  Jupiter, 
when  you  will  not  allow  them  to  be  anything  better  than 
"  boneless,  watery,  pulpy  creatures."     (Chap.  ix.  Art.  19). 

Z.  I  had  no  disposition  to  be  hard  upon  them,  when  I  en- 
tered upon  these  speculations.  I  drew  what  seemed  to  me 
probable  conclusions  from  all  the  facts  of  the  case.  If  the 
laws  of  attraction,  of  light,  of  heat,  and  the  like,  be  the  same 
there,  as  they  are  here,  (which  we  believe  to  be  certain,)  the 
laws  of  life  must  also  be  the  same ;  and  if  so,  I  can  draw  no 
conclusions  other  than  those  which  I  have  stated. 

L.  One  might  extract  many  pleasant  imaginations  out  of 
this  doctrine  of  the  fluidity  of  Jupiter.  Who  can  conceive 
the  configuration  of  the  creatures  that  dwell  there?  They 
may  exist  as  immense  alga-like  or  medusa-like  creatures, 
"  floating  many  a  rood,"  and  feeling,  observing,  thinking,  and 
operating  at  each  of  their  infinitely  multiplied  extremities. 
Then  what  crystal  palaces  they  may  build  on  the  Tabasheer 
nucleus  of  that  huge  aquatic  globe !  What  water-organs  in 
the  nature  of  Sirenes  they  may  construct !  To  what  a  perfec- 
tion may  they  have  brought  the  science  of  Hydropathy  ! 
There  is  no  limit  to  the  ejaculatory  questions  of  this  kind 
which  might  be  proposed. 


32S  A     DIALOGUE     ON 

Z.  Absolutely  none.  And  I  should  hope  that  these  imagin- 
ations may  supply  the  void  made  by  dispeopling  Jupiter  of 
the  imaginary  creatures  which  have  hitherto  occupied  him. 
You  must  suppose  Micromagas  to  be  a  huge  leviathan ;  or  if 
you  choose,  to  be  Hobbes's  Leviathan,  which  was  a  kind  of 
polyp,  as  appears  by  his  frontispiece. 

M.  But  why  do  you  make  Venus  so  diiFerent  from  the 
Earth  %  She  seems  to  resemble  it  much  in  physical  con- 
dition. 

Z.  I  have  given  you  in  the  Essay  my  reasons  for  what  I 
have  done.  It  is  not  I,  but  Herschel,  who  tells  you  that  she 
is  not  marked  with  permanent  spots,  such  as  denote  land  and 
water.  But  when  he  tells  us  this,  I  cannot  think  that  her 
physical  condition  is  like  that  of  the  earth.  And  as  to  the 
amount  of  heat  which  must  prevail  there,  and  which  makes  it 
difficult  to  suppose  inhabitants  in  her,  according  to  the  known 
laws  of  life  ; — that  is  a  matter  of  calculation,  if  the  difference 
of  heat  in  different  planets  depends  on  the  sun.  And  that 
something,  apparently  the  nearness  of  the  sun,  makes  her  sur- 
face different  from  that  of  the  exterior  planets,  Herschel  also 
tells  us.  If,  notwithstanding  this,  you  are  resolved  to  believe 
that  Venus  is  inhabited,  I  have  only  to  say  that  I  see  no 
grounds  for  such  a  conclusion. 

N.  But  if  Venus  and  other  planets  have  atmospheres,  is 
not  that  a  good  ground  for  believing  them  to  be  inhabited  % 
You  argue  that  the  Moon  is  not  inhabited,  because  she  has  no 
atmosphere.  Supposing  that  I  assent  to  this.  If  it  be  good 
as  a  negative  argument,  it  is  also  good  as  a  positive  one.  If 
we  fin  I  other  planets  where  water  and  air,  evaporation  and 
clouds,  do  appear  to  exist,  we  have  a  contrary  argument  pro 


THE  PLURALITY  OF  WORLDS.  329 

vlded  (as  seems  to  me)  of  at  least  equal  force  as  regards  the 
general  question. 

Z.  You  will  hardly  say  so,  I  think,  on  deliberate  consider- 
ation. For  the  existence  of  life  several  conditions  must  con- 
cur ;  and  any  of  these  filing,  life,  so  far  as  we  know  anything 
of  it,  is  impossible.  Not  air  only,  and  moisture,  but  a  cer- 
tain temperature,  neither  too  hot  nor  too  cold  ;  and  a  certain 
consistence,  on  which  the  living  frame  can  rest.  Without  the 
other  conditions,  an  atmosphere  alone  does  not  make  life  pos- 
sible; still  less,  prove  its  existence.  A  globe  of  red  hot 
metal,  or  of  solid  ice,  however  well  provided  with  an  atmos- 
phere, could  not  be  inhabited,  so  far  as  we  can  conceive. 
The  old  maxim  of  the  logicians  is  true  ;  that  it  requires  all 
the  conditions  to  establish  the  affirmative,  but  that  the  nega- 
tion of  any  one  proves  the  negative. 

0.  In  assuming  Jupiter  to  be  a  mass  of  water  on  account 
of  his  low  density,  you  seem  to  leave  out  of  account  the  fact 
that  Saturn  is  much  less  dense  still.  If  you  argue  that  be- 
cause Jupiter  is  of  the  density  of  water,  he  is  water,*  you 
should  argue  also  that  because  Saturn  is  of  the  density  of 
cork,  he  is  cork. 

Z.  Yes,  if  I  held  that  cork  is  one  of  the  universally  dif- 
fused elements  of  the  universe.  You  must  recollect  that  I  try 
to  explain  how  the  water  got  there. 

0.  But  in  the  case  of  Saturn,  it  seems  most  natural  and 
consistent  to  assume  a  porous  or  cavernous  structure.  The 
only  alternative  is  to  suppose  that  he  consists  of  a  fluid  lighter 
than  water ;  and  such  a  fluid  is  nowhere  found,  except  in 
minute  quantities ;  and  then,  I  believe,  always  derived  from 
organic  bodies  on  the  earth's  surface.  Do  you  think  it  likely 
that  Saturn  is  com.posed  of  alcohol  or  ether  ] 


66\)  A    DIALOGUE     ON 

Z.  Certainly  not.  What  I  have  suggested  is  a  combina- 
tion of  the  same  well-known  elements,  water  (including  aque- 
ous vapor)  and  air.  His  outer  parts  are  probably  air  and 
vapor,  his  inner  parts  liquid  water.  Your  porous  or  cavernous 
structure  appears  to  me  a  most  arbitrary  assumption; — 
indeed,  another  form  of  the  cork  hypothesis. 

P.  You  appear  to  have  involved  yourself  in  a  difficulty 
in  your  theory  of  Jupiter :  after  presenting  it  in  the  text  you 
add  a  defence  in  a  note.  In  a  temperature  such  as  Jupiter 
must  have,  the  water  of  which  he  is  composed  must  become 
ice  ;  and  then  what  becomes  of  your  polyps  and  marine 
mionsters  ? 

Z.  Even  let  them  go.  I  have  no  special  love  for  them.  I 
spoke  of  them  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  gratifying  (as  far  as  I 
could)  those  who  wish  to  have  the  planets  inhabited.  I  said 
that,  in  my  opinion,  the  choice  lay  between  such  a  population 
and  none ;  I  have  no  wish  to  defend  my  theory,  as  you  call  it, 
of  Jupiter's  inhabitants. 

Q.  But  you  must  allow  that  most  of  your  objections  do 
not  apply  to  Mars.     "Why  should  not  Mars  be  inhabited  ? 

Z.  Fontenelle's  favorite  figure,  Pourquoy  non  !  But,  as  I 
have  said,  the  figure  is  two-edged,  and  cuts  one  way  tis  well  as 
the  other.  Why  should  not  Mars  be  ^«7^inhabited  1  Or,  to 
put  it  otherwise,  why  should  not  Vesta,  why  should  not  Ceres, 
why  should  not  Juno,  be  inhabited  1 

Q.  O,  they  are  so  very  small !  Vesta  is  only  250  miles 
in  diameter  ;  Ceres,  only  163  ;  Juno,  only  79.  The  whole  sur- 
face of  Juno  is  not  so  large  as  Newfoundland,  and  who  knows 
how  much  of  it  is  solid  ? 

Z.     There  is  then,  it  seems,  a  degree  of  smallness  which 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  331 

makes  you  reject  the  supposition  of  inhabitants.  But  where 
does  that  degree  of  smalhiess  begin  1  The  surface  of  Mars 
is  on,y  one-fourth  that  of  the  Earth.  Moreover,  if  you  allow 
all  the  small  planets  between  Mars  and  Jupiter  to  be  unin" 
habited,  the  planetary  bodies  which  you  acknowledge  to  be 
probably  uninhabited,  far  outnumber  those  with  regard  to 
which  even  the  most  resolute  pluralists  of  worlds  hold  to  be 
inhabited.  The  majority  swells  every  year.  Since  the  pub- 
lication of  the  Essay,  three  have  been  added.  The  Planetoids 
are  now  twenty-nine.  The  fact  of  a  planet  being  inhabited, 
then,  is,  at  any  rate,  rather  the  exception  than  the  rule ;  and 
therefore  m.ust  be  proved  in  each  case  by  special  evidence. 
And  of  such  evidence,  I  know  not  a  single  trace. 

jR.  By  the  way,  are  you  not  rash  when  you  suggest  that 
these  small  planets — planetoids,  you  call  them — have  been 
produced  by  a  collapse  of  sidereal  matter  which  has  failed  to 
make  one  large  planet  ?     (Chap  ix.  Art.  28). 

Z.  It  seems  to  me,  that  however  rash  I  may  be  in  such  a 
procedure,  I  am  much  less  adventurous  than  the  astronomers 
who  discovered  these  planets,  and  who  held  that  they  were 
fragments  of  a  larger  planet  which  had  been  broken  to  pieces 
by  some  unknown  cause.  This,  as  you  know,  was  the  hypoth- 
esis of  Olbers ;  and  in  the  Connaissance  des  Temps  for  1814, 
Lagrange  investigated  the  explosive  force  which  was  necessary 
to  produce  the  result  ;  and  found  that  the  velocity  which  the 
explosion  produced  need  only  be  20  times  the  velocity  of  a 
cannon  ball.*  Is  it  a  more  rash  speculation,  to  form  a  planet 
by  condensation  of  sidereal  matter,  than  to  shatter  one  to 
pieces  by  an  unknown  explosive  force  ? 

*  Grant,  Hist.  Ast.,  p.  241. 


332  ADIALOGUEON 

>S'.  In  your  speculations,  you  adopt  the  Nebular  h}  pothesis ; 
and  adopt  it  with  the  most  thorough-going  adhesion  (Chap.  x. 
Art.  6).  You  not  only  accept  it  as  applied  by  the  elder 
Herschel  and  Laplace,  to  the  starry  world ;  but  as  it  is  ap- 
plied by  Laplace  to  the  evolution  of  oar  solar  system  out  of  a 
revolving  cloud  of  solar  matter,  gradually  shrinking  by  cool- 
ing, and  throwing  off  in  the  process  rings  or  shreds  of  matter, 
which  ultimately  became  planets  with  their  revolving  train  of 
satellites  ;  and  which  finally,  in  the  last  age  of  the  world,  con- 
densed into  the  substantial  sun,  which  serenely  governs  the 
progeny  born  of  his  own  body.  This  strange  cosmogony — the 
wildest  imagining  which  ever  emerged  from  the  brain  of  a 
mathematician — appears  to  me  an  unaccountable  delusion. 
How  can  a  grave  man  like  you  give  currency  to  it  1 

Z.  My  excellent  friend,  I  am  sorry  that  my  dealing  with 
this  hypothesis  as  a  hypothesis  disturbs  you.  But  pray  con- 
sider for  a  moment :  what  cosmogony  is  there,  or  can  there  be, 
which  is  not  strange,  which  is  not  wild  ?  It  may  be  the  wisest 
and  best  course,  not  to  have,  or  to  seek,  any  cosmogony  at 
all : — not  to  ask  how,  by  what  steps  and  through  what  changes, 
the  world  came  to  be  what  it  is.  It  may  be  the  most  reveren- 
tial habit,  to  take  the  natural  world  as  it  is,  and  to  make  no 
inquiries  about  its  probable  history.  But  the  whole  tendency 
of  modern  science  is  entirely  oj^posed  to  this  habit.  When 
vve  occupy  ourselves  with  geology,  for  instance,  our  express 
and  principal  aim  is  to  learn  the  history  of  the  earth  ;  to  know 
what  changes  it  has  undergone ;  to  trace  the  stages  of  its  past 
existence  backwards,  through  all  the  variations  of  organic  life, 
till  we  come  to  a  condition  in  which  there  was  as  yet  no  or- 
ganic life.  Are  we  bound,  by  some  paramount  obligation,  to 
stop  there  1  Is  it  wrong  to  carry  our  speculations  further  ?  to 
ask  how  the  mineral  mass  of  the  earth  came  to  be  what  it  is  ? 


THE     PLUEALITY     OF     WORLDS.  333 

through  what  changes  that  also  may  have  passed  ?  But  if  we 
may  make  such  inquiries  at  all,  what  is  simpler  than  to  ask 
whether  these  mineral  masses  have  passed  through  a  fluid,  or 
a  gaseous  condition,  before  they  became  solid  1  We  know 
that  most  materials,  probably  all,  are  capable  of  these  three 
conditions.  May  we  not  make  a  hypothesis  as  to  the  mode  in 
which  the  three  conditions  have  succeeded  each  other,  and  see 
what  comes  of  the  hypothesis  1  I  grant  you  that  our  hypo- 
thetical speculations  of  this  kind  are  likely  to  be  very  insecure  ; 
our  conclusions  very  precarious.  We  have  here  very  few  facts 
which  point  to  any  conclusions.  The  case  is  very  different 
from  what  it  is  in  geology,  where  we  have  a  great  multitude 
of  facts,  pointing  to  conclusions  in  a  great  degree  definite. 
But  we  can  speculate,  bearing  in  m.ind  this  insecurity.  We 
can  take  care  that  our  confidence  in  our  conclusions  does  not 
go  beyond  our  evidence.  To  forbid  us  to  speculate,  even  in 
this  spirit ;  to  arrest  our  inquiries  at  a  certain  point,  and  be- 
yond that,  not  to  allow  us  even  to  guess  ; — is  a  very  arbitrary 
proceeding ;  nor  is  it  at  all  likely  that  men's  minds,  in  these 
our  times,  will  submit  to  it.  But  at  any  rate,  men  cannot  sub- 
mit to  such  prohibitions,  and  at  the  same  time  talk  about  the 
Plurality  of  Inhabited  Worlds.  That  doctrine,  so  far  as  scien- 
tific grounds  are  concerned,  is  as  strange  as  any  cosmogony  ; — 
is  as  much  a  conjecture  as  the  primitive  nebulosity  of  worlds ; 
• — is  a  hypothesis  supported  by  fewer  facts  and  analogies  than 
the  nebular  hypothesis. 

Indeed,  the  doctrine  of  the  Habitation  of  many  Worlds  is, 
as  I  conceive,  an  essential  part  of  the  Nebular  Hypothesis. 
The  rule  that  worlds  shall  be  inhabited,  is  the  last  part  of  the 
rule,  according  to  which,  on  that  hypothesis,  w^orlds  are 
formed.  Nebulae  condense  to  suns,  and  revolving  suns  throw 
off  planets,  and  planets  become  seats  of  life,  it  is  held,  by  cer- 


334  A     DIALOGUE     ON 

tain  universal  laws  of  nature.  I  dispute,  I  deny  these  laws  of 
nature.  I  think  it  quite  unproved  that  nebulae  condense  tc 
suns  ;  that  suns  throw  off  planets  ;  that  planets  in  general  (ii 
there  are  any  systems  of  planets  beside  ours)  become  seats  of 
life.  I  know  that  the  planet  on  which  we  live,  is  a  seat  of 
life.  I  believe  it  has  become  so  by  acts  out  of  the  commou 
order  of  the  laws  of  nature  ;  therefore  I  do  not  think  it  reason 
able  to  assume,  without  any  evidence,  that  other  planets  are  also 
seats  of  life.  I  think  it  probable  that  the  solid  materials  of 
our  globe  were  formerly  fluid  ;  possible,  that  they  were  for- 
merly gaseous  and  nebular.  But  I  do  not  therefore  hold  that 
all  nebular  objects  will  produce  suns  and  planets  like  ours. 
Even  when  I  employ,  hypothetically,  the  hypothesis  of  the 
gi'adual  condensation  of  nebular  into  solid  matter,  I  never  give 
it  the  general  application  which  belongs  to  Sir  William 
Herschei's  nebular  hypothesis.  Even  if  I  suppose  for  a  mo- 
ment the  solar  system  to  have  been  formed  from  a  nebula,  I 
never  suppose  that  all  the  nebulas  are  in  the  course  of  forming 
planetary  systems.  On  the  contrary,  that  is  precisely  the 
opinion  which  I  reject. 

S.  But  this  doctrine  of  the  formation  of  our  solar  system 
from  a  nebula  has  been  combined  with  irreverent  opinions, 
which  you  yourself  would  shrink  from,  by  popular  but  super- 
ficial authors.  I  am  sorry  therefore  that  you  should  give  the 
doctrine  additional  currency  among  us. 

Z.  If  you  mean,  as  I  think  you  do,  that  this  doctrine  of 
the  natural  derivation  of  planets  from  nebulas  has  been  com- 
bined with  the  natural  derivation  of  man  from  the  most 
elementary  animals,  I  am  aware  that  such  a  combination  has 
been  made.  But  I  must  say,  I  think  the  doctrine  of  the 
natural  derivation  of  species  one  from  another,  has  too  little 
real  connection  with  any  conjectures  about  nebulae,  to  make 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  335 

these  dangerous  on  that  account.  If  you  are  moved  by  such 
dangers,  geology  is  the  part  of  science  which  is  really  danger- 
ous, as  supplying  some  plausible  evidence  of  the  derivation 
of  higher  species  from  lower.  For  m.y  part,  I  have  not  only 
rejected,  but  as  seems  to  me,  given  good  reasons  for  rejecting, 
any  natural  derivation  of  organic  life  from  brute  matter,  and 
any  derivation  of  human  from  animal  existence.  On  the  lat- 
ter point  I  have  labored  (in  Chapter  vi.),  to  an  extent  which  I 
feared  niight  be  deemed  prolix  and  superfluous ;  but  which 
was  naturally  occasioned  by  the  importance  of  that  point  in 
my  reasoning. 

S.  I  grant  that,  in  you,  the  nebular  hypotnesis,  if  it  be  an 
extravagance,  is  a  mere  physical  extravagance,  and  is  asso- 
ciated with  solid  and  reverential  views  of  the  Divine  Provi- 
dence, from  which  it  has  generally  been,  in  a  marked  degree, 
dissociated. 

T.  In  your  chapter  on  the  "  Unity  of  the  World,"  (Chap. 
XII.  Art  3,)  you  quote  a  passage  from  Professor  Owen's 
"  Nature  of  Limbs,"  which  you  suppose  to  favor  your  views, 
but  I  have  rarely  met  with  an  instance  of  more  excessive 
carelessness  than  you  here  betray. 

Z.  Pray  show  me  this.  If  it  be  so,  I  will  not  only  correct 
the  error,  but  thank  you  very  sincerely  for  enabling  me  to 
do  it. 

T.     Look  here.    You  quote  this  passage  as  from  Mr.  Owen  : 

"  If  the  world  were  made  by  any  antecedent  mind  or  un- 
derstanding, that  is,  by  a  Deity,  there  must  needs  be  an  Idea 
and  Exemplar  of  the  whole  world  before  it  was  made,  and 
consequently  actual  knowledge,  both  in  the  order  of  time  and 
nature,  before  things.  But  conceiving  of  knowledge  as  it  was 
got  by  their  own  finite  minds,  and  ignorant  of  any  evidence 


336  A     DIALOGUE     ON 

of  an  ideal  archetype  for  the  world  or  any  part  of  it,  they 
[the  Democritic  philosophers  who  denied  a  Divine  creative 
mind]  affirmed  that  there  was  none,  and  concluded  that  there 
could  be  no  knowledge  before  the  world  was  as  its  cause." 

Now  this  passage  which  you  thus  quote,  stands  in  Mr.  Owen 
thus  : 

"  The  learned  Cudworih  tells  us  that — The  Democritic  Athe- 
ists reason  thus.     If  the  world,"  &c. 

So  that  you  absolutely  attribute  to  Professor  Owen  the 
words  of  Cudworth,  and  the  opinion  of  the  Democritic  Athe- 
ists, and  finally  garble  the  Hunterian  Professor's  commentary 
to  make  the  whole  fit. 

Z.  A  grave  charge  indeed !  But  surely  upon  the  face  of 
it  you  go  too  far.  Do  I  not  introduce  these  opinions  of  the 
Democritic  Atheists  for  the  very  purpose  of  showing  that 
Prof.  Owen  refutes  theml  Would  it  not  have  made  the 
matter  clearer  if  you  had  gone  on  to  my  next  sentence,  still  a 
quotation  from  Mr.  Owen  :  "  Now  however  the  recognition  of 
an  ideal  exemplar  for  the  vertebrated  animals  proves  that  the 
knowledge  of  such  a  being  as  man  must  have  existed  before 
man  appeared  ;"  and  therefore  that  the  Democritic  argument 
is  worthless  ?  Do  you  not  think  the  "  excessive  carelessness  " 
here,  is  on  your  side  ^ 

T.  But  you  cannot  deny  quoting  Cudworth's  words  as 
Owen's. 

Z.  Let  us  see  them.  How  much  of  the  passage  which  you 
have  read  is  Cudworth's  1 

T.     The  whole,  of  course. 

Z.  Indeed !  You  have  looked  at  Mr.  Owen's  book,  and 
therefore  you  ought  to  have  seen  that  the  double  commas,  "  " 
which  mark  the  quotations,  include  only  the  first  sentence ; 
and  that  at  any  rate,  the  second  sentence  is  Mr.  Owen's  own. 


THE  PLURALITY  OF  WORLDS.         337 

And  as  the  first  sentence  merely  serves  to  introduce  the 
second,  it  did  not  seem  too  great  a  liberty  to  omit  the  refer- 
ence to  Cudworth,  which  is  quite  unessential. 

T.  But  if  Mr.  Owen  thought  the  reference  necessary  in 
quoting  Cudworth's  words,  you  ought  to  have  thought  it  neces- 
sary too. 

Z.  Excuse  me.  It  was  proper  for  Mr.  Owen  to  give  his 
authority  for  his  assertion  of  a  fact  in  philosophical  history, 
but  not  at  all  necessary  for  me,  who  had  only  to  do  with  his 
argument. 

But  you  must  allow  me  to  say,  that  though  you  have  re- 
ferred to  Mr.  Owen's  book,  you  do  not  appear  to  have  re- 
ferred to  Cudworth's.  The  fact  is,  that  Mr.  Owen  has  not 
quoted  Cudworth's  words^  even  in  that  single  sentence.  He 
has  altered  them  so  much,  as  to  make  that  sentence  also  his 
own.  The  passage  referred  to  occurs  in  the  "  Intellectual 
System  of  the  Universe,"  Book  i.  Chap.  5,  page  847 ;  and 
stands  thus : 

"  But  the  Democritick  and  Epicurean  Atheists  will  make 
yet  a  further  assault,  from  the  Nature  of  Knowledge,  Un- 
derstanding, after  this  manner ;  If  the  world  were  made  by  a 
God,  or  an  Antecedent  Mind  and  Understanding,  having  in  it- 
self an  Exemplar  or  Platform  thereof  before  it  was  made, 
then  must  there  be  Actual  Knowledge,  both  in  order  of  Nature 
and  Time,  before  Things  ;  whereas  Things,"  &c. 

Now  Mr.  Owen,  in  employing  this  passage,  has  not  only 
omitted  the  superfluous  phrases,  but  altered  some  of  the  terms 
putting  "  Idea  and  Exemplar,"  for  "  Exemplar  or  Platform," 
and  leaving  out  the  development  of  the  argument.  Mr.  Owen 
acted  very  judiciously  in  doing  this ;  but  by  doing  it,  he  made 
the  passage  his  own  :  very  properly  ;  since  it  was  to  form  part 
of  his  argument ;    or  rather,  contained  the  reasoning  which 

15 


338  A    DIALOGUE     ON 

he  undertook  to  refute;  and  which  he  has  so  strikingly 
refuted. 

And  now,  where  is  the  garbling  ? 

A£.  In  addition  to  your  explanation,  I  am  now  able  to 
say,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that  Mr.  Ovyen  himself  is  of  opinion 
that  you  haye  quoted  and  represented  him  fairly. 

T.  But  what  does  all  this  prove  against  the  Plurality  of 
Worlds  1 

Z.  I  do  not  pretend  to  disprove  a  Plurality  of  Worlds. 
But  I  ask  in  vain  for  any  argument  which  makes  the  doctrine 
probable.  And  as  I  conceive  the  Unity  of  the  World  to  be 
the  result  of  its  being  the  work  of  one  Divine  Mind,  exercis- 
ing creative  power  according  to  its  own  Ideas;  so  it  seems  to 
me  not  unreasonable  to  suppose,  that  man,  the  being  which 
can  apprehend  in  some  degree  those  Ideas,  is  a  creature 
unique  in  the  creation. 

T.  But  Mr.  Owen  is  in  favor  of  the  Plurality  of  Worlds  ; 
he  says,  only  two  pages  before  that  which  you  quote  from  : 

"  The  naturalist  and  anatomist,  in  digesting  the  knowledge 
v»  hich  the  astronomer  has  been  able  to  furnish,  regarding  the 
planets  and  the  mechanism  of  the  satellites  for  illuminating 
the  night  season  of  the  distant  orbs  that  revolve  round  one 
common  sun,  can  hardly  avoid  speculating  on  the  organic 
mechanism  that  may  exist,  to  profit  by  such  sources  of  light, 
and  which  must  exist  if  the  only  conceivable  purpose  of  these 
beneficent  arrangements  is  to  be  fulfilled.'''' 

Mark  the  last  clause. 

Z.  I  mark  it ;  and  mark  you  too  the  sequel.  Mr.  Owen 
goes  on  to  argue,  very  ingeniously,  that  the  moons  of  Jupiter 
exist  to  give  light ; — that  light  being  governed,  there,  by  the 
same  laws  as  here, — the  animals  must  have  eyes  organized  on 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  339 

the  same  dioptric  principles  as  on  the  earth  ;  and  that  as  the 
bony  orbits  in  which  eyes  are  placed,  in  this  planet,  are  con- 
structed of  modified  vertebra,  it  will  not  appear  so  hazardous, 
to  infer  that  the  animals  on  other  planets  may  also  be  verte- 
brate. 

T.     And  what  have  you  to  say  against  this  % 

Z.  Nothing.  If  there  be  anywhere  animals  which  are 
bony,  the  simplest  supposition  is,  that  they  are  also  vertebrate. 
I  do  not  know  how  any  one  can  reason  better  as  to  the  structure 
of  the  animals  which  inhabit  other  planets,  if  there  are  such 
animals. 

T.  But  you  see,  Mr.  Owen  says  that  such  animals  must 
exist,  if  the  only  conceivable  purpose  of  the  beneficent  planet- 
ary arrangement  is  to  be  fulfilled. 

Z.  I  have  learnt  much  from  Mr.  Owen.  I  have  learnt 
from  him,  in  many  most  striking  cases,  to  admire  purpose  in 
organic  arrangements,  where  purpose  is  apparent.  But  I  have 
learnt  from  him  also,  that  to  infer  facts  from  "  an  only  con- 
ceivable purpose,"  is  a  very  hazardous  process.  I  have  em- 
ployed Mr.  Owen's  views  in  order  to  illustrate  the  insecurity  of 
this  process  (Chap.  xi.  Art.  4),  and  have  done  so  with  the  most 
entire  conviction  that  I  was  following  the  truest  and  largest 
lessons  of  his  noble  philosophical  progress.  In  this  very  case 
of  vertebrated  animals,  we  have,  as  I  conceive,  one  of  these 
lessons.  Why,  I  have  already  asked  (Chap.  xi.  Art.  3),  should 
so  many  animals  have  a  skeleton  of  the  same  plan — this  ver- 
tebrate plan — bone  for  bone  %  In  many  instances,  there  are 
m.ultitudes  of  bones  in  the  skeleton  of  a  species,  which  answer 
no  known  purpose :  why  then  may  there  not  be  planets  and 
satellites  which  answer  no  purpose  ?  none,  that  is,  which  we 
have  yet  discovered  %  And  does  not  everybody  allow  that 
there  are  sucli  %      Do  you  hold  that  all  the   planetoids   be 


340  A     DIALOGUE     ON 

tween  Mars  and  Jupiter,  now  numbering  twenty-nine,  are  in- 
habited ?  Some  of  these,  perhaps,  are  not  bigger  than  Mount 
Blanc,  and  perhaps  as  irregular  in  form.  Can  you  not  con- 
ceive such  a  mass  revolving  round  the  Sun,  separate  from  the 
Earth,  void  of  inhabitants  ? 

T.  Certainly  I  should  not  expect  such  planetoidal  masses 
to  be  inhabited. 

Z.  No,  of  course  you  would  not.  And  therefore  you  must 
give  up,  for  them,  "the  only  conceivable  purpose."  And 
what  difference  can  it  make  in  the  conceivableness  of  the 
thing,  if  they  are  a  myriad  times  as  large  ? 

T.  But  in  the  case  of  the  skeleton,  the  bones  which  have 
no  known  purpose  are  there  in  virtue  of  a  general  law, 
namely,  the  vertebrate  plan. 

Z.  And,  doubtless,  in  the  case  of  the  planets,  they,  in- 
habited or  not,  are  there  in  virtue  of  general  laws,  whether  we 
know  the  laws  or  not.  But  moreover,  I  have  tried  to  point 
out  what  these  laws  may  be,  in  the  Chapter  on  the  Theory  of 
the  Solar  System. 

TJ.  You  assume  that  every  intelligent  being  must  be 
human,  and  subject  to  the  conditions  of  man's  physical  ex- 
istence (Chap.  IV.  Arts.  6 — 10),  because  we  cannot  conceive 
intelligence  unaccompanied  by  human  attributes.  But  Mr. 
Mill,  in  his  System  of  Logic,  has  exploded  the  notion  that  what 
is  inconceivable  cannot  be  true. 

Z.  Some  writers,  especially  writers  who  have  dealt  with 
theological  subjects,  have  asserted  that  not  only  what  is  incon 
ceivable  may  be  true,  but  that  all  the  highest  truths  must  be 
inconceivable.  But  it  would  surprise  me  very  much  if  Mr. 
Mill  were  to  allow  you  to  say  that  that  of  which  3  ou  know 
uolhiiig  but  that  [L  is  inconceivable,  is  probable. 


THE     PLUEALITY     OF     WORLDS.  341 

U.  But  we  do  know  more  of  the  inhabitants  of  other 
planets.  We  know  that  their  existence  is  agreeable  to  analogy. 

Z.  To  the  "  analogy  "  of  one  case  out  of  thirty-six  planets, 
of  which  planets  there  are  twenty-nine  to  which  you  dare  not 
apply  the  analogy.  But  I  have  discussed  this  argument  in  the 
Essay  (Chap.  vii.  Art.  29),  and  shall  not  dwell  further  upon  it.' 

U.  Even  supposing  that  no  being  possessing  what  we  call 
intelligence  can  have  any  other  corporeal  garb  and  limitations 
than  those  of  man,  the  arguments  against  the  possibility  of  his 
existence  in  other  planets  are  merely  negative..  Considering 
what  we  know  of  the  enormous  influence  of  atmospheric  con- 
ditions and  physical  conformation  upon  climate  on  the  earth, 
and  that  we  possess  only  the  roughest  notions  with  respect  to 
either,  (atmosphere  or  conformation,)  in  any  planet  but  our 
own, — a  cautious  mind,  I  think,  would  hesitate  long  before 
drawing  any  conclusion  as  to  climatal  impossibilities,  for  even 
human  existence,  in  Mercury  or  Jupiter. 

Z.  That  is,  Mercury  may  be  as  cool  as  the  earth,  and  Ju- 
piter as  hot.  Certainly  I  cannot  prove  that  it  may  not  be  so, 
except  by  supposing  that  propinquity  to  the  sun  is  the  main 
cause  of  heat.  But  I  think  "  a  cautious  mind  "  would  hesitate 
still  longer,  before  concluding  that  the  planets,  differing  in 
amount  of  heat,  so  far  as  solar  propinquity  determines  heat, 
from  7  times  more  than  the  earth,  to  900  times  less,  and  pos- 
sibly, with  atmospheric  conditions  and  physical  configuration 
that  increase  their  unfitness  for  habitation,  are  nevertheless  all 
nhabited. 

U.  But  your  arguments  are  merely  negative.  You  only 
prove  that  we  do  not  know  the  planets  to  be  inhabited. 

Z.  If,  when  I  have  proved  that  point,  men  were  to  cease 
to  talk  as  if  they  knew  that  the  planets  are  inhabited,  1  should 
Lave  produced  a  great  effect. 


342  A     DIALOGUE     ON 

17.  Your  basis  is  too  narrow  for  so  vast  a  superstructure, 
as  that  all  the  rest  of  the  universe  besides  the  Earth  is  unin- 
habited. 

Z.  Perhaps  :  for  my  philosophical  basis  is  only  the  earth, 
the  only  known  habitation.  But  on  this  same  narrow  basis, 
the  earth,  you  build  up  a  structure  that  other  bodies  are  in- 
habited. What  I  do  is,  to  show  that  each  part  of  your  struc- 
ture is  void  of  tenacity,  and  cannot  stand. 

It  is  probable  that  when  we  have  reduced  to  their  real  value 
all  the  presumptions,  drawn  from  physical  reasoning,  for  the 
opinion  of  planets  and  stars  being  either  inhabited  or  unin- 
habited, the  force  of  these  will  be  perceived  to  be  so  small, 
that  the  belief  of  all  thoughtful  persons  on  this  subject  will  be 
determined  by  moral,  metaphysical,  and  theological  considera- 
tions. But  on  these  I  will  not  now  venture  further  than  I 
have  done  in  the  Essay. 

V.  Your  readers  perpetually  come  back  to  the  argument, 
that  you  suppose  that  an  intelligent  being  cannot  exist  in  other 
physical  conditions  than  those  of  the  earth  ;  and  that  this  is 
an  arbitrary  assumption.  The  Creator  may  adapt  an  intelligent 
creature  to  conditions  the  most  varied,  as  we  see  by  the  adapt- 
ation of  animals  to  different  conditions  on  the  earth. 

Z.  If  my  readers  perpetually  come  back  to  this  argument, 
I  may  be  allowed  to  come  back  to  the  answer  which  I  have 
given  to  it  (Chap.  xi.  Art.  15).  But  if  you  please,  we  will 
return  to  the  argument  in  another  form.  You  say,  then,  that 
there  may  possibly  be  intelligent  creatures,  which  are  not 
subject  to  the  same  physical  conditions  as  we  are.  How  far 
do  you  go  in  this  liberal  line  of  speculation  1  Do  you  believe 
in  Ariel,  and  the  other  Sylj)hs,  the  spirits  which  have  their 
place   in    tho    air,    and   have    frames   and    qualities   adapted 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  d4d 

to  their  sphere  of  action  1  Do  you  believe  in  the  Naiads,  or 
Nixies,  or  Water-sprites,  or  Kelpies,  or  whatever  their  due 
appellation  is,  which  inhabit  the  water  1  Do  you  believe  in 
the  Gnomes,  the  inhabitants  of  the  dark  masses  of  earth,  and 
the  Salamanders,  which  are  at  home  in  the  fire  ? 

V.  These  are  Rosicrucian  inventions,  or  poetical  imagina- 
tions. You  have  no  real  intention  of  comparing  them  to  sci- 
entific conclusions. 

Z.  To  such  scientific  conclusions  as  the  dwellers  in  Mercury 
or  Saturn,  it  seems  to  me  they  may  very  fairly  be  compared. 
Those  who  hold  them  as  realities,  have  only  to  use  your  argu- 
ment, that  we  must  not  limit  the  possible  conditions  of  in- 
telligent existence,  by  the  empirical  conditions  of  man's 
existence. 

V.     There  is  no  evidence  of  their  real  existence. 

Z.  The  Rosicrucian  philosophers  would  contest  this  with 
you ;  and  would  use,  in  defence  of  the  habitability  of  air, 
water,  earth  and  fire,  many  of  the  arguments  which  you  em- 
ploy to  uphold  the  habitability  of  the  planets. 

But  if  you  want  a  class  of  intelligent  beings  for  which  you 
have  more  abundant  evidence,  what  think  you  of  Ghosts  that 
walk,  and  Departed  Spirits  that  return  1  No  doubt  these  are 
not  bound  by  the  laws  of  our  living  bodily  existence;-  they 
are  seen,  but  cannot  be  felt.  They  mock  the  grasping  hand, 
and  glide  through  the  bolted  door.  But  what  of  that  *?  Why 
should  they  not  *?  Grasps  and  bolts  have  hold  only  on  a  gross 
bodily  frame  like  that  of  man.  With  tKe  testimony  which  is 
current  of  such  things,  and  with  your  ready  rejection  of  ordi- 
nary physical  laws,  surely  you  ought  to  believe  in  these,  much 
rather  than  in  the  inhabitants  of  Mercury  or  Saturn,  of  whom 
you  have  no  testimony  at  all. 

V.     But  I  do  not  suppose  the  inhabitants  of  other  planets 


844  A    DIALOGUE     ON 

to  be  exempt  from  the  ordinary  laws  of  miatter,  as  ghosts  are 
supposed  to  be. 

Z.  But  then  your  limitation  of  the  possible  deviation  from 
the  ordinary  physical  laws  of  man's  being  is  quite  arbitrary  ; 
and  I  do  not  see  what  right  you  have  to  draw  the  line  in  one 
place  rather  than  another.  Let  us  see  where  you  are  dis- 
posed to  draw  it.  Do  you  think  it  probable  that  the  Sun  is 
inhabited '? 

V.  I  know  that  Sir  William  Herschel  held  that  it  might  be 
so  ;  that  the  inhabitants  who  live  below  the  cloudy  canopy 
of  light  and  heat  which  forms  the  surface,  might  be  screened 
fi'om  its  glare  and  fire.  And  Arago,  his  commentator  and 
biographer,  evidently  leans  to  the  same  opinion,  which  he  con- 
siders to  be  almost  generally  adopted.  But  I  rather  hold  to 
the  public  opinion,  which  prevailed  in  1787,  when  a  certain 
Dr.  Elliot  being  charged  at  the  Old  Bailey  with  the  murder  of 
a  young  lady,  his  advocate  urged,  as  a  proof  of  his  insanity^ 
that  he  believed  the  sun  to  be  inhabited. 

But  this  notion  very  strongly  tends  to  show  the  instinctive 
belief  of  man  in  the  diffusion,  if  not  of  his  species,  at  least  of 
beings  analogous  to  it. 

Z.  But  the  belief  of  the  advocate,  and  the  public  opinion  to 
which  he  appealed, — what  does  that  prove  1  the  instinctive  be- 
lief that  such  a  notion  is  mad,  I  should  think.  And  the 
operation  of  this  latter  instinct  is  very  old.  Lactantius  laughs 
at  some  of  the  philosophers  of  the  Stoic  sect,  who,  having 
ascribed  inhabitants  to  the  moon,  doubted  whether  they  should 
also  allow  them  in  the  sun.  "  Why  not  V  says  he.  "  What 
would  they  cost  you,  when  you  have  gone  so  far  %  But  I  sup- 
pose you  were  afraid  they  would  be  burnt  to  cinders,  and  the 
mischief  laid  at  your  door." 

F.     But  you  see,  in  this  very  passage,  hov/  general  a  belief 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  345 

of  this  kind  has  always  been.  The  preponderance  of  belief  in 
all  ages  has  been  in  favor  of  the  Plurality  of  Worlds.  This 
involuntary  prepossession  of  mankind  at  large  may  almost 
be  considered  in  the  light  of  an  argument  of  some  weight. 
You  have  done  wisely  in  not  going  into  the  history  of  opinions 
on  this  subject. 

Z.  I  hope  I  have  done  wisely  in  not  entering  upon  that 
history  ;  for  I  was  much  tempted  to  go  into  it ;  and  refrained, 
only  because  I  was  afraid  of  confusing  the  argument,  and  in- 
troducing questions  of  erudition. 

But  you  astonish  me  much  by  saying  that  there  has 
always  been  a  preponderance  of  the  belief  in  the  plurality  of 
worlds  ;  meaning  by  that,  of  course,  the  belief  that  the  planets, 
moon  and  sun  are  inhabited. 

V.     But  is  it  not  so  % 

Z.  As  far  as  my  reading  goes,  quite  the  contrary.  This 
belief  has  always  been  regarded  as  extravagant,  and  has  been 
maintained  only  by  a  few  men,  who  have  become  by-words  on 
that  account.  Moreover,  it  has  generally  been  combined  with 
other  opinions,  as  fantastical  as  the  Rosicrucian  plurality  of 
worlds,  which  you  so  unhesitatingly  reject. 

F.     What  records  of  such  opinions  do  you  find  % 

Z.  Xenophanes  held  that  there  were  inhabitants  in  the 
moon ;  but  then,  they  were  somehow  on  an  earth  which  was 
inside  the  moon's  orb.  So  Lactantius  tells  us.  Plutarch,  in 
his  curious  Dialogue  "  On  the  Eace  which  appears  in  the 
Moon's  Orb,"  gives  the  arguments  for  and  against  the  doc- 
trine of  the  moon  being  inhabited.  But  the  doctrine  that  it 
is,  is  combined  with  divers  mythological  fancies,  and  was  evi- 
dently regarded  as  having  only  the  same  kind  of  reality  which 
they  had  (in  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Hadrian,  recollect). 
Kepler  translated  this  Dialogue ;  and  he  himself  indulged  in 

1.5* 


346  A     DIALOGUE     ON 

speculations  on  the  same  subject,  in  which  he  called  the  moon 
Levana^  and  spoke  of  her  inhabitants ;  but  as  seems  to  me, 
with  m^uch  the  same  amount  of  conviction  as  Plutarch.  The 
narrative  is  put  in  the  mouth  of  a  Lapland  witch.  In  the 
same  way,  Lucian  makes  the  moon  an  island  floating  aloft  and 
carrying  inhabitants,  much  as  Swift  represents  Laputa.  And 
even  when  you  come  to  the  modern  assertors  of  the  Coperni- 
can  system,  who,  as  I  allow,  were  naturally  led  to  guess  that 
there  might  be  inhabitants  in  the  planets,  their  guesses  are  so 
vague  and  fantastical,  that  I  do  not  see  why  we  should  ascribe 
to  them  more  weight  than  to  the  Rosicrucian  doctrine  of 
Sylphs  and  Gnomes.  Thus  Nicolas  of  Cus,  who  asserted  the 
possibility  of  the  Heliocentric  system  before  Copernicus,  in 
his  book,  "  De  Docta  Ignorantia,"  says,  suitably  to  the  design 
of  the  book,  which  is  to  show  the  imperfection  of  human 
knowledge  ;  that  we  cannot  know  whether  the  inhabitants  of 
other  spheres  are  of  a  higher  nature  than  man ; — although,  as 
he  adds,  it  does  not  appear  how  any  nature  can  be  more 
noble,  or  more  perfect,  than  the  intellectual  nature  of  man. 
He  suspects,  however,  that  in  the  region  of  the  Sun,  the  intel- 
lectual inhabitants  are  more  clear  and  illuminated,  and  more 
spiritual,  than  they  are  in  the  Moon,  where  they  are  "  magis 
lunatici ;"  as  in  the  Earth  they  are  "  magis  materiales  et  grossi.'"' 
Giordano  Bruno  was  one  of  the  early  assertors  of  the  Coper- 
nican  system  in  England.  He  published  a  book  (in  prose  and 
very  bad  Latin  verse),  entitled  "  De  Immenso  et  Innumer- 
abilibus,"  in  which  undoubtedly  he  asserts  the  Plurality  of 
Worlds ;  but  he  goes  much  further  than  the  moderns  would 
follow  him.  He  declares  that  the  earth  is  inhabited  in  its  in- 
terior, as  well  as  at  its  surface ;  and  that  animals  in  the  shape 
of  spheres  of  fire  fly  through  the  air,  one  of  which  he  himself 
saw. 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  347 

I  do  not  know  of  any  writers  whose  speculations  on  this 
subject  can  be  treated  more  seriously,  except,  perhaps, 
Huyghens,  in  his  Cosmotheoros^  a  posthumous  work ;  which, 
however,  Humboldt,  with  great  reason,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
thinks  unworthy  of  its  author ;  and  by  far  the  most  thoughtful 
and  earnest  of  such  speculators,  Wilkins,  afterwards  Master  of 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  He  labored  at  considerable 
length  to  prove,  not  only  that  the  moon  is  inhabited,  but  that 
we  need  not  despair  of  being  able  to  make  visits  to  the  in- 
habitants. 

V.  You  treat  the  subject  with  levity ;  but  undoubtedly  it 
is  a  subject  on  which  many  persons  bestow  very  serious 
thoughts  and  feelings. 

Z.  I  am  aware  of  that.  I  too  have  my  serious  thoughts 
and  feelings  on  the  subject :  as  I  hope  appears  in  what  I  have 
written.  Nor  would  I  treat  with  levity  any  serious  feelings 
on  this  subject.  But  if  the  serious  thoughts  and  feelings 
which  flow  from  a  belief  in  the  Plurality  of  Planetary 
Worlds  have  really  been  produced  by  a  guess,  lightly  made 
at  first,  quite  unsupported  by  subsequent  discoveries,  and  dis- 
countenanced by  the  most  recent  observations,  though  too 
remote  from  knowledge  to  be  either  proved  or  disproved  : — 
what  is  there  to  prevent  my  speaking  of  such  thoughts  and 
feelings  as  mere  results  of  imagination ;  and  comparing  the 
views  on  which  they  rest,  v/ith  those  which  I  think  to  be  more 
probable,  and  more  consistent  with  real  seriousness  1 

W.  But  is  there  not  something  very  elevating  and  consol- 
ing in  the  thought  there  may  be  in  the  stars  innumerable 
worlds,  far  happier  and  better  than  ours  1  For  my  part,  I  can 
scarcely  bear  to  think  that  it  is  not  so.  If  the  stars  be  seats 
of  happy  conscious  beings,  I  can  reconcile  myself  to  the  misery 


348  A     DIALOGUE     ON 

and  guilt  of  earth  ;  but  if  it  be  not  so,  the  aspect  of  the  uni 
verse  is  dark  and  desolate.  In  such  an  universe,  I  do  not  know 
how  it  can  be  said  that  "  God  is  love." 

Z.  But  surely  the  disciple  who  so  repeatedly  tells  us  that 
God  is  love,  never  dreamt  that  the  stars  were  inhabited  ;  nor  did 
any  of  those  who  derived  joy  and  hope  from  the  words  for 
fifteen  hundred  years  afterwards,  ever  find  such  a  belief  neces- 
sary to  their  comfort.  The  need  of  this  view  is  quite  a 
modern  feeling. 

W.  But  to  imagine  worlds  of  intelligent  creatures,  purer 
and  happier  than  man,  is  a  consolation  and  relief  to  a  mind 
oppressed  with  the  prospect  of  the  guilt  and  misery  which  are 
so  prevalent  on  the  earth. 

Z.  Be  it  so.  But  why  place  those  worlds  in  the  planets, 
or  in  the  stars,  with  which  we  have  no  reason  whatever  to 
connect  them  1  If  the  ground  for  believuig,  or  wishing  to 
believe  such  better  worlds,  be  the  badness  of  this  human 
world,  the  better  worlds  should  surely  be  in  some  way  con- 
nected with  the  state  of  man ;  so  that  their  goodness  in  some 
way  relieves  or  compensates  his  vice  and  misery.  If  other 
worlds,  quite  removed  from  this  terrestrial  world,  are  free  from 
the  terrestrial  measure  of  vice  and  misery,  that  difference 
surely  makes  our  terrestrial  condition  more"  sad,  and  not  more 
consolatory.  If  we  might  have  been  so  much  better  and  hap- 
pier, we  may  well  lament  the  lot  which  has  made  us  what  we 
are. 

W.  But  perhaps  it  is  our  own  fault  which  has  made  us 
what  we  are. 

Z.  And  if  we  amend  our  faults,  or  are  in  any  way  freed 
from  them,  we  may  be  transferred  to  these  better  planetary 
abodes.     Is  that  the  doctrine  1 

W,     Why  not  ? 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  349 

Z.  I  know  no  reason  why  not,  except  that  to  place '  in 
planets  and  stars  these  abodes  of  our  purified  and  elevated 
nature,  appears  to  be  an  assumption  without  either  ground  or 
object.  Moreover,  in  that  case,  the  planets  exist  for  the  sake 
of  man,  as  his  future  abode.  And  therefore  that  supposition 
makes  man  the  centre  of  the  providential  scheme  of  the  uni- 
verse ;  which  is  precisely  what  is  objected  to  the  opinion  that 
the  earth  alone  is  inhabited.  I  have  no  objection  to  this  sup- 
position. I  can  readily  believe  that  God  has  done  that  for 
man,  which  he  has  not  done  for  any  other  creature,  and  that 
man  is  the  centre  of  the  providential  scheme  according  to 
which  the  world  has  been  conducted  from  the  beginning.  But 
I  thought  that  you  could  not  feel  satisfied  without  other  fields 
of  moral  agency. 

W.  Surely  you  will  not  deny  that  there  is  in  this  world 
so  much  vice  and  misery,  that  it  is  oppressive  to  have  to  think 
of  it  as  the  best  world  in  existence. 

Z.  To  think  of  man,  being  what  he  is,  as  the  ultimate 
work  of  Providence,  would  indeed  be  oppressive.  But  if 
man,  as  he  is,  be  the  germ  of  something  better,  which  he  is  to 
be,  there  is,  in  that  thought,  more  consolation,  I  should  think, 
than  in  millions  of  mhabited  planets  which  have  no  connection 
with  man. 

W.  But  how  difficult  is  it  to  discover  how  man  is  to  be 
made  better,  and  to  make  him  so  ! 

Z.  Difficult  indeed !  And  it  is,  I  believe,  the  difficulty 
of  this  task,  which  makes  men  so  willing  to  take  refuge  from 
the  painful  effort  in  the  easy  imagination  of  planetary  elys- 
iums.  But  yet  this  task  is  our  real  business ;  however  many 
worlds  there  may  be  in  the  planets,  or  however  few  our  busi- 
ness is  to  make  this  world  of  earth  better  than  it  is.  If  we 
turn  aside  from  that  undertaking  in  indifference  or  despair, 


350  A     DIALOGUE     ON 

what  shall  we  be  the  better  for  the  mild  light  of  the  host  of 
moons  w^hich  shine  on  Jupiter's  inhabitants,  or  the  splendor 
of  the  skies  where  planets  revolve  round  a  double  star,  of 
which  the  two  components  wear  the  colors  of  the  ruby  and 
the  emerald  1 

X.  When  you  say  that  our  business  is  to  improve  the 
world  in  which  we  live,  you  must  recollect  that  it  is  our  busi- 
ness quite  as  much  to  improve  ourselves.  This  is  everybody's 
business :  to  improve  the  world  may  be  the  office  of  a  few 
only. 

Z,  No  doubt :  we  ought  to  try  to  mend  both  ;  the  Mi' 
crocosm^  as  well  as  the  Macrocosm  :  the  little  world  within  us, 
as  well  as  the  great  Cosmos  without. 

X.  Yes ;  but  have  you  the  right  to  call  the  universe  a 
Cosmos?  Do  you  not,  by  divesting  the  stars  of  their  use, 
make  Cosmos  into  Chaos  ? 

Z.  Nay,  surely  a  world  characterized  by  unity,  is  as  or- 
derly as  a  world  of  plurality.  That  man  is  the  centre  of  cre- 
ation, and  that  all  ihe  rest  of  the  universe  exists  on  his  account, 
is,  whether  true  or  not,  at  any  rate  a  simple  and  intelligible 
scheme.  The  accumulation  of  innumerable  worlds  of  moral 
and  intellectual  creatures,  without  connection  or  subordination, 
may  rather  be  termed  a  chaos;  "a  mighty  maze,  and  all 
without  a  plan,"  so  far  as  we  can  see,  or  even  guess.  When 
the  term  Cosmos  was  invented  and  applied,  those  who  used  it 
never  dreamt  of  other  inhabited  worlds  besides  the  earth,  and 
other  rational  beings  besides  man. 

Y.  But  in  your  inclination  to  make  man  the  centre  of  cre- 
ation, and  the  object  of  all  the  rest  of  the  universe,  are  you  not 
forgetting  the  admonitions  of  those  who  warn  us  against  this 


THE  PLUKALITY  OF  WORLDS.  351 

tendency  to  self-glorification.  You  will  recollect  how  much 
of  this  warning  there  is  in  the  Essay  on  Man  : 

Ask  for  what  end  the  heavenly  bodies  shine — 
Earth  for  whose  use  ?     Pride  answers,  'tis  for  mine : 

And  the  rest  of  the  passage.  To  imagine  ourselves  of  so  much 
consequence  in  the  eyes  of  the  Creator,  is  natural  to  us,  self- 
occupied  as  we  are,  till  philosophy  rebukes  such  conceit. 

Z.  It  is  quite  right  to  attend  to  such  warnings.  But  warn- 
ings may  also  be  useful  on  the  other  side  :  warnings  against 
self-disparagement ;  against  the  belief  that  man  is  not  an  im- 
portant object  in  the  eyes  x)f  the  Creator.  I  do  not  know  what 
philosophy  represents  man  as  insignificant  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Deity.  Kant,  you  will  recollect,  said  that  two  things  im- 
pressed him  with  awe  ;  the  Starry  Heaven  without  him,  and 
the  Moral  Principle  within. 

And  still  less  does  Religious  Philosophy  favor  the  belief  of 
man's  insignificance  in  the  eyes  of  God.  What  great  things, 
according  to  the  views  which  Religion  teaches,  has  He  done  for 
mankind,  and  for  each  man  ! 

Y.  Yes,  you  build  the  philosophy  of  your  Essay  on  a  re- 
ligious basis.  You  take  for  granted  the  truths  of  Revealed 
Religion,  and  reason  from  them.  But  that  is  not  the  way  to 
arrive  at  true  views  of  the  physical  universe. 

Z.  You  must  excuse  me  for  saying  that  I  do  not  reason  in 
the  way  which  you  ascribe  to  me.  I  obtain  my  views  of  the 
physical  universe  from  the  acknowledged  genuine  sources ;  ob- 
servation and  calculation.  The  doctrine  of  inhabited  planets 
and  stars  rests  in  a  very  small  degree  on  physical  grounds  :  as 
far  as  I  can  see  any  grounds  of  physical  reasoning  on  that  sub- 
ject, I  reason  physically.  But  the  doctrine  is  defended  upon 
theological  grourds  also.     I  do  not  attempt  to  disprove  the 


352  A     DIALOGUE     ON 

Plurality  of  Worlds  by  taking  for  granted  the  truths  of  Re- 
vealed Religion  ;  but  I  say  that  the  teaching  of  Religion  naay, 
to  a  candid  inquirer,  suggest  the  wisdom  of  not  taking  for 
granted  the  Plurality  of  Worlds.  Religion  seems,  at  first 
sight  at  least,  to  represent  Man's  history  and  position  as 
unique.  Astronomy,  some  think,  suggests  the  contrary.  I 
examine  the  force  of  this  latter  suggestion,  and  it  seems  to  me 
to  amount  to  little  or  nothing. 

As  illustrating  the  general  bearing  of  such  speculations,  I 
may  perhaps  be  allowed  to  say  that  the  views  contained  in  the 
Essay  have  in  several  instances,  as  I  have  learnt,  been  received 
as  very  consolatory  and  satisfactory,  by  persons  who  are  in 
the  habit  of  deriving  their  opinions  from  religious  principles. 

Y.  And  yet  many  such  persons  had  found  great  satisfac- 
tion and  pleasure  in  the  speculations  of  Chalmers,  which  pro- 
ceed so  far  in  the  opposite  direction. 

Z.  That  may  be.  But  I  may  say,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
I  have  found  religious  persons,  who,  returning  to  the  perusal 
of  Chalmers'  Astronomical  Discourses,  now  that  the  first 
burst  of  their  popularity  arising  from  their  great  eloquence,  is 
past,  have  found  his  suppositions  and  pictures  painfully  bold  ; 
and  his  views  very  far  from  consolatory.  They  see  little  com- 
fort in  the  suggestion  that  the  inhabitants  of  earth  are  more 
wicked  and  more  miserable  than  those  of  any  other  part  of 
the  creation. 

Y.  But  surely  the  contemplation  of  the  possible  existence 
of  creatures  purer  and  more  elevated  than  ourselves,  has  a 
tendency  to  soothe  and  raise  our  minds.  And  such  a  belief 
is  strongly  encouraged  by  Religion. 

Z.  A  belief  in  Ministering  Angels  and  Blessed  Spirits,  you 
mean.  I  grant  you  ;  but  once  more,  how  do  you  connect  this 
belief  with  *^he  planets  and  stars  ?     According  to  the  views  of 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  353 

religious  men,   siicli  Ministers  have  their  offices,   in  a  great 
measure,  amonsr  men : 


Myriads  of  spiritual  creatures  walk  the  earth, 
Unseen,  both  when  we  wake  and  when  we  sleep. 

And  if  you  would  have  your  thoughts  raised  and  solemnized 
by  a  view  of  a  company  of  spirits,  purer  and  higher  than  man 
in  his  mortal  condition,  I  will  quote  you  a  passage  from  a 
modern  Divine,  of  a  soberer  eloquence  than  the  great 
Preacher  of  Scotland,  and  I  think,  of  a  sounder  philosophy. 

■ "  How  does  the  zealous  Christian,  alive  to  the  honor  of 
God,  and  troubled,  like  Elijah,  to  see  his  followers  few,  rejoice 
in  every  speculation  by  which  he  can  persuade  himself  that 
the  borders  of  his  dominion  are  extending ;  that  the  cords  of 
his  tent  are  gaining  length !  How  does  he  hail  the  Christian 
settlements  amongst  the  horde  of  savages  in  the  solitary 
islands  of  the  Southern  main  !  How  does  he  anticipate  in  his 
glowing  thoughts  the  day  when  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  is 
to  cover  the  earth  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea  !  How  does  he 
even  indulge  in  fanciful  but  innocent  conjectures  on  the  rela- 
tion the  Incarnation  and  Atonement  of  Christ  may  bear  to  the 
inhabitants  of  other  planets  besides  our  own!  So  vast  does 
he  naturally  think  must  be  the  effect  of  the  Sacrifice  of  Him 
who  was  with  God,  and  who  was  God,  and  by  whom  all  things 
were  made.  He  can  scarcely  persuade  himself  to  contem- 
plate that  great  mystery  merely  in  respect  to  this  little  earth. 
He  is  reluctant  to  circumscribe  its  virtues  to  the  limited  com- 
pass of  a  plot  of  ground  like  this.  Behold  then  we  show  unto 
him  a  more  excellent  way  !  Let  him  turn  his  meditations  to 
this  doctrine  of  the  Communion  of  Saints,  and  his  heart  be- 
comes lawfully  enlarged.  In  that  direction  he  may  give  his 
thoughts  leave  U  wander  in  the  full  assurance  of  faith.    There 


354  A    DIALOGUE     ON 

he  finds  a  vast  population  of  souls,  some  in  the  body,  some 
out  of  the  body,  wherever  dwelling,  wherever  the  Paradise  of 
God  may  be ;  of  which  the  earth  however  is  but  the  ante- 
chamber, and  death  the  door ;  and  he  beholds  troops  of 
spirits  in  unceasing  succession  in  the  act  of  emigrating  to  that 
ample  colony,  never  to  be  over-peopled,  till  the  day  when 
God  shall  have  made  up  the  number  of  his  elect !" 

This,  and  more  in  the  same  admirable  strain,  you  will  find 
in  a  Sermon  preached  at  Cambridge  by  Professor  Blunt,  in 
November,  1849.  And  we  cannot  end  our  discussion  better 
than  so. 

AA.  No,  my  friend,  you  are  not  to  be  allowed  to  end 
the  discussion  so.  Here  are  forty  pages  of  objections  to  your 
Essay,  from  a  Critic  who  writes  in  a  very  vehement  and 
angry  strain. 

Z.  If  he  writes  in  a  vehement  and  angry  strain,  I  will  have 
nothing  to  say  to  him.  I  have  presented,  gravely  and  calmly, 
the  views  and  arguments  which  occurred  to  my  mind,  on  a 
question  which  many  persons  think  an  interesting  one ;  and  if 
any  one  will  introduce. any  other  temper  into  the  discussion  of 
this  question,  with  him  I  will  hold  no  argument.  But  how 
does  it  appear  that  he  is  vehement  and  angry  ? 

AA.  I  will  read  to  you  a  few  of  the  expressions  which  he 
uses,  and  you  shall  judge.  He  declares  that  to  conceive  such 
a  universe  as  he  says  that  you  conceive,  "  indicates  a  mind 
dead  to  feeling  and  shorn  of  reason."  He  maintains  that 
"  minds  of  the  highest  caste"  view  the  world  as  he  views  it ; 
but  that  "  ordinary  minds"  have  the  difficulties  which  he 
ascribes  to  you ;  though  he  can  hardly  conceive  that  persons 
■  of  the  smallest  mental  capacity  have  such  difficulties."  He 
says,  of  your  assertion,  that  the  earth  and  its  human  inhabit- 


THE  PLURALITY  OF  WORLDS.  355 

ants  are,  as  far  as  we  yet  know,  in  an  especial  manner  the 
subject  of  God's  care  and  government,  "  that  the  sentiment  is 
groundless  and  the  reason  futile."  He  speaks  of  your  "  very 
silly  attempt  at  argument."  He  says  that  you  "  travel,  con 
amore,  to  our  naoon,  a  fit  study  and  a  suitable  residence  for 
one  who  holds  the  opinions  and  invents  the  theories  of  our 
author." 

Z.     Severe  and  original  sarcasm ! 

AA.  He  speaks  of  doctrines  which  he  opposes,  as  "  an  in- 
conceivable absurdity  which  no  sane  mind  can  cherish,  but  one 
panting  for  notoriety  ;"  and  as  "  a  supposition  too  ridiculous 
even  for  a  writer  of  romance."  Are  you  satisfied?  He 
ascribes  to  you  a  bold  attempt  to  "  concuss"  the  reader  into 
your  views  "by  repeated  applications  of  the  argumentum 
baculinum.'''' 

Z.  The  argumentum  baculinum!  That  used  to  mean  a 
sound  beating  with  a  staff.  It  is  plain  that  he  is  very  sore  ; 
but  I  am  quite  at  a  loss  to  understand  what  I  have  done  to 
hurt  him.  But,  as  you  say,  it  is  evident  enough  that  he  is 
very  angry.  I  cannot  conceive  why  he  should  be  so.  He  be- 
lieves, I  suppose,  that  the  planets  and  the  stars  are  inhabited. 
I  have  no  objection  to  his  believing  this.  But  does  he  give 
reasons  for  his  belief?  Does  he  attempt  to  solve  the  difficul- 
ties, v/hich  I  have  noticed  as  attendant  upon  the  belief?  Does 
he  answer  the  arguments  which  I  have  offered,  to  show  that 
the  belief  is  ill-founded?  If  he  does  this,  he  may  be  worth 
notice,  angry  though  he  be. 

AA.  He  says  that  "  we  deduce  from  this  language  of  Scrip- 
ture, ('  When  I  consider  the  heavens  ....  what  is  man?')  a 
positive  argument  for  the  plurality  of  worlds ;  for  that  view 
makes  the  Hebrew  poet's  wonder  intelligible. 

Z.     That  the  Hebrew  poet  knew  or  thought  about  the  plu- 


o56  A    DIALOGUE     ON 

rality  of  worlds,  is  a  fact  hitherto  unnoticed  by  the  Historians 
of  Astronomy.     To  their  consideration  I  leave  it. 

AA.  He  says  that  the  similarity  of  the  conditions  of  the 
different  planets,  when  it  was  discovered,  led  men  to  believe 
that  they  were  occupied  by  life  ;  and  that  thus  the  belief  that 
the  Earth  alone  was  inhabited,  became  more  and  more  pre- 
sumptuous. 

Z.     Then  he  holds  that  all  planets  are  inhabited  ? 

AA.     So  it  seems,  by  his  argument. 

Z.  Does  he  hold  this  of  the  twenty -nine  small  planets  be- 
tween Mars  and  Jupiter  1  * 

AA.  He  does  not,  I  think,  say  so  ;  but  to  be  consistent,  he 
must  so  hold  it. 

Z.  Does  he  believe  that  meteoric  stones  are  of  the  same 
nature  as  the  small  planets  ? 

A  A.  Not  only  so ;  but  he  claims  this  "  theory  of  meteoric 
stones  "  as  his  own,  published  forty  years  ago. 

Z.  Then  I  must  ask  him  why  he  does  not  believe  the  me- 
teoric stones  to  have  been  inhabited  ? 

AA.  I  suppose  he  vv^ill  say,  because  they  have  not  been 
found  to  be  so,  when  brought  within  the  reach  of  examination. 

Z.  Then  is  it  not  likely  that  Juno,  Irene,  Lutetia,  and  the 
rest  of  the  twenty -nine  smaller  planets,  if  brought  within  the 
reach  of  examination,  would  be  found  to  be  uninhabited 
alsol 

AA.  That  may  be ;  and  yet  the  larger  planets,  Mars,  Ju- 
pyiter,  and  the  like,  may  be  inhabited. 

Z.  But  the  argument  that  they  are  inhabited,  because  they 
are  planets,  fails  him.     Has  he  any  other  reasons  *? 

AA.  Yes  ;  he  has  other  reasons.  He  says  that,  if  not  in- 
habited, the  planets  would  be  wasted. 

Z.     This  question  of  wasted  means,  I  have  fully  considered 


THE  PLURALITY  OF  WORLDS.  357 

Chap.  XI.  Art.  11,  &c.,  and  must  leave  what  I  have  there  said 
to  be  considered  by  the  reader. 

AA.  The  Critic  is  shocked,  he  says,  at  your  speaking  of 
planets  which  have  "  failed  in  the  making." 

Z.  The  expression  is  intended  to  remind  the  reader  (as 
any  intelligent  reader  will  see)  in  how  many  instances  natural 
objects  seem  to  us  to  fail  in  the  making.  This  appears  in 
millions  of  undeveloped  or  uncompleted  vegetable  and  animal 
embryos,  which  have  marks  of  a  fitness  for  ulterior  uses  far 
more  clearly  than  the  planets,  and  yet  never  are  used.  Is 
there  any  offence  in  saying  that  a  seed  which  is  killed,  fails  to 
produce  the  plant  which  it  is  fitted  to  produce  ?  Doubtless 
such  seeming  failure  is  part  of  the  Divine  Plan.  It  is  failure 
to  our  eyes  only.  But  we  are  not  to  make  a  Divine  Plan  for 
ourselves,  by  excluding,  as  irreverent,  the  notion  of  such 
failures. 

However,  I  have  discussed  this  matter  in  Chap,  xi.,  with 
reference  to  various  provinces  of  creation. 

AA.     Your  Critic  calls  that  "  a  Chapter  of  omniscience." 

Z.  That  is  an  odd  expression  ;  for  the  Chapter  contains 
only  a  few  facts  familiarly  known  to  all  persons  who  take  a 
comprehensive  view  of  nature.  If  the  Critic  thinks  such 
knowledge  either  extraordinary  or  inapplicable,  he  is  very 
unfit  to  speculate  on  such  questions  as  he  deals  with. 

But  what  does  he  say  of  the  difficulties  attendant  upon  the 
doctrine  of  the  plurality  of  worlds,  such  as  I  have  stated  in 
Chapter  iv.  ? 

A  A.  He  says  "  after  a  careful  perusal  of  this  Chapter,  we 
must  acknowledge  our  inability  either  fully  to  understand  its 
meaning,  or  to  see  its  bearing  on  the  real  question  of  a  plurality 
of  worlds.  It  is  a  mere  display  of  ingenuity,  obliterating  meta- 
physically the  brightness  of  our  perceptions,  and  coming  ovei 


858  A    DIALOGUE     ON 

oiir  minds  like  an  Eastern  fog  on  a  spring  morning,  or  like  the 
tail  of  a  comet  over  a  cluster  of  stars." 

Z.  If  he  cannot  see  the  difficulties  which  the  question  in- 
volves, he  is  not  one  of  those  for  whom  I  wrote.  I  am  sorry 
that  he  has  allowed  me  to  obliterate  metaphysically  the  bright- 
ness of  his  perceptions. 

A  A.  He  does,  however,  speak  of  the  religious  difficulty, 
and  says  that  "  Dr.  Chalmers  has  rather  cut  than  untied  the 
knot."  His  own  solution  of  the  question  concerning  the  re- 
demption of  other  worlds  appears  to  be  this  :  that  the  provision 
made  for  the  redemption  of  man  by  what  took  place  upon 
earth  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  may  have  extended  its  in- 
fluence to  other  worlds. 

Z.  In  reply  to  which  astronomico-theological  hypothesis, 
three  remarks  offisr  themselves.  In  the  first  place,  the  hypoth- 
esis is  entirely  without  warrant  or  countenance  in  the  revela- 
tion from  which  all  our  knowledge  of  the  scheme  of  redemp- 
tion is  derived.  In  the  second  place,  the  events  which  took 
place  upon  earth  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  were  connected 
with  a  train  of  events  in  the  historj^-  of  man,  which  had  begun 
at  the  creation  of  man,  and  extended  through  all  the  inter- 
vening ages ;  and  the  bearing  of  this  whole  series  of  events 
upon  the  condition  of  the  inhabitants  of  other  worlds  must  be 
so  different  from  its  bearing  on  the  condition  of  man,  that  the 
hypothesis  needs  a  dozen  other  auxiliary  hypotheses  to  make 
it  intelligible.  And  in  the  third  place,  this  hypothesis,  making 
the  earth,  insignificant  as  it  seems  to  be  in  the  astronomical 
scheme,  the  centre  of  the  theological  scheme,  ascribes  to  the 
earth  a  peculiar  distinction,  quite  as  much  at  variance  with 
the  analogies  of  the  planets  to  one  another,  as  the  supposition 
<:hat  the  earth  alone  is  inhabited ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  bear- 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  359 

ing  of  the  Critic's  hypothesis  on  the  other  systems  that  en- 
circle other  suns. 

AA.  Your  Critic  does  not  allow,  as  I  have  already  told 
you,  that  man  and  his  history  are  an  especial  care  of  God. 
He  says  "  the  lily  that  neither  toils  nor  spins, — the  ravens  that 
neither  sow  nor  reap, — the  sparrows,  though  of  less  value  than 
man, — the  crushed  insect, — the  broken  planet, — the  twinkling 
star, — are  all  as  special  objects  of  God's  care,  as  the  wise 
elephant,  the  illiterate  biped, — the  presumptuous  philosopher, 
and  the  great  globe  itself,  and  all  that  it  inherits." 

Z.  But  surely  a  scheme  for  the  redemption  of  man,  bound 
up  with  the  whole  history  of  man,  and  establishing  a  special 
relation  between  man  and  God,  shows  a  care  more  special  than 
the  Divine  operation  which  clothes  the  lily  and  feeds  the  spar- 
row ;  and  this  was  implied,  when  it  was  said,  "  Fear  not ;  ye 
are  of  more  value  than  many  sparrows." 

Can  you  not  find  something  more  to  the  purpose  in  the 
criticism  ? 

A  A.  Perhaps  if  we  go  into  the  detail  of  the  physical  argu- 
ment we  may.  In  opposition  to  your  doctrine  that  Jupiter 
is  a  sphere  of  water,  he  says,  that  if  it  were  so,  "  The  light 
reflected  from  his  surface,  when  he  is  in  his  quadratures,  must 
contain,  what  it  does  not,  a  visible  portion  of  polarized  light ; 
and  if  his  crust  be  composed  of  mountains  of  ice,  some  of 
whose  faces  may  reflect  the  light  at  nearly  the  polarizing  angle, 
that  fact  would  be  distinctly  indicated,  which  it  is  not,  by  a 
very  large  quantity  of  polarized  light." 

Z.  That  is  a  very  good  remark  ;  and  would  be  of  consider- 
able importance,  if  the  observations  of  which  the  result  is  as- 
serted, have  been  made  carefully ;  which  I  by  no  means  deny. 
But  I  doubt  whether  the  remark  is  applicable ;  for  Jupiter's 


360  A    DIALOGUE     ON 

"watery  or  icy  mass  must  be  clothed  in  a  thick  stratum  of  air, 
and  aqueous  vapor  and  clouds. 

AB.  But  even  if  the  planet  were  free  from  clouds,  the 
parts  of  the  planet's  surface  from  which  polarized  light  would 
be  reflected  would  only  be  as  points  compared  with  the  whole 
surface ;  and  the  common  light  reflected  from  the  whole  sur- 
face would  quite  overwhelm  and  obliterate  the  polarized  light. 

Pray  let  me  hear  some  more  of  his  arguments. 

A  A.  He  says  that  your  argument  from  Geology  (Chap,  v.) 
is  erroneous,  because  you  make  the  age  of  the  earth  in  its 
present  organic  condition  to  be  brief  compared  with  preceding 
periods ;  whereas  it  will  be  infinite. 

Z.  I  reason  at  present  from  the  present  state  of  things  ;  as 
I  have  said.  Chapter  xii.  Art.  20.  But  how  does  he  know  that 
the  duration  of  the  human  race  on  the  earth  will  be  infinite  ? 

AA.  He  says  that  "  neither  reason  nor  religion  leads  us  to 
believe  that  the  Solar  System  will  ever  be  destroyed,  or  that 
living  beings  will  ever  cease  to  occupy  the  earth."  He  says 
that  "  if  this  is  not  the  case  we  are  involved  in  that  inconceiv- 
able absurdity,"  &c.,  &c.,  "  that  the  Almighty  took  millions  of 
years  to  make  a  world  which  was  to  be  occupied  only  for  a 
few  thousands." 

Z.  It  seems  to  me  that  he  must  be  a  very  bold  man  to 
speak  so  confidently  on  such  subjects. 

AA.  He  is  offended  at  your  using  that  expression.  You 
have  said  (Chap.  vii.  Art.  12)  that  he  must  be  a  very  bold 
man,  who  says  of  the  specks  into  which  Lord  Rosse's  tele- 
scope resolves  the  Nebulae,  "  These  lumps,  O  man,  are  suns," 
&c.  The  Critic  says  that  you  might  in  the  same  way  call  a 
man  a  very  bold  man  who  says  of  geological  strata,  "  These 
are  the  fragments  of  strata,  O  man,  which  though  seen  only 
in  patches,  surround  the  whole  globe,"  &c. 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  361 

Z.  The  illustration  would  have  some  propriety,  if  all  that 
we  knew  of  the  patches  of  strata  was,  that  they  were  patches 
of  seemingly  earthy  matter,  without  any  stratified  structure 
or  organic  contents  to  identify  them.  In  that  case  he  would 
be  a  very  bold  man. 

A  A.  He  says  that  your  doctrine  of  Nebulae  revolving  in 
spirals  is  extravagant ;  and  exclaims  Risum  teneatis  Asironomi  / 

Z.  As  I  have  already  said,  such  astronomers  as  Lord  Rosse 
have  no  occasion  for  his  warning,  but  consider  this  spiral  mo- 
tion very  gravely.  And  so  will  any  astronomer  who  looks  at 
the  representations  of  Nebulae,  which  I  have  borrowed  from 
Lord  Rosse,  and  made  my  frontispiece. 

A  A.     He  denies  that  Encke's  Comet  revolves  in  a  spiral. 

Z.     Very  good.     Let  Encke  decide  between  us. 

AA.  He  says  that  Biela's  Comet  was  never  separated  into 
two ;  that  the  luminous  portions  are  connected  by  a  transparent 
portion. 

Z.  You  recollect,  probably,  that  when  Galileo  discovered 
the  inequalities  of  the  Moon's  surface,  one  of  his  opponents, 
who  held  that  the  heavenly  bodies  must  be  exactly  spherical, 
said  that  the  apparent  cavities  were  filled  with  transparent 
crystal.  "Whereupon  Galileo  threatened  to  place  upon  the 
surface  transparent  crystal  mountains,  ten  times  as  high  as  the 
cavities  were  deep.  I  must  reduce  the  Critic  to  reason,  if 
necessary,  by  proceeding  to  extremities  in  the  same  way.  I 
may  hold  it  probable  that  Biela's  Comet  is  divided  into  several 
invisible  masses  besides  the  two  visible  ones. 

AA.  He  has  an  illustration  to  show  how  little  is  proved 
by  the  changing  of  color,  or  extinction,  of  a  few  among  the 
Eixed  Stars.  He  supposes  that  London  is  lighted  by  a  single 
electric  light  on  the  top  of  St.  Paul's ;  and  that  an  aeronaut, 
knowing  this,  flaying  over  France,  sees  many  lights.     He  wUl 

16 


862  A     DIALOGUE     ON 

suppose  that  they  illumine  cities  and  villages,  though  a  few- 
go  out,  or  burn  red  or  blue. 

Z.  Yes,  if  he  knows  that  he  is  moving  over  France,  an  in- 
habited country  ;  but  in  our  case,  that  is  precisely  the 
thing  unknown.  That  being  the  fact,  each  of  these  lights 
may  be  an  active  volanic  fire,  or  a  patch  of  phosphorescent 
natter. 

AA.  He  says  that  your  modification  of  Fontenelle's  illus- 
tration (Chap.  VIII.  Art.  26)  is  unjust,  because  the  stars  are 
more  like  each  other  than  islands  in  the  same  sea  are. 

Z.  The  opposite  opinion,  that  neighboring  islands,  in  the 
same  sea,  are  much  more  like  each  other  than  the  stars  are, 
appears  to  me  much  more  probable ;  and  I  have  given  reasons 
for  thinking  so. 

Does  he  follow  Fontenelle  in  his  conjectures  as  to  the 
character  and  condition  of  the  inhabitants  of  different  planets  % 

AA.  Oh,  he  is  much  bolder  than  the  old  Cartesian,  in  his 
conjectures  as  to  the  ways  in  which  the  planetary  races  may 
differ  from  man.  He  says :  "  The  being  of  another  mould 
£world  f\  may  have  his  home  in  subterranean  cities,  warmed 
by  central  fires, — or  in  crystal  caves,  cooled  by  ocean  tides, — 
or  he  may  float  with  the  Nereids  upon  the  deep, — or  mount 
upon  wings  as  eagles,  or  have  the  pinions  of  the  dove  that  he 
may  flee  away  and  be  at  rest." 

Z,  Very  pretty  ;  and  withal  very  much  to  the  purpose ; 
for  such  writing  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  mode  in  which  the 
notion  of  creatures,  governed  by  physical  laws  different  from 
those  which  regulate  the  existence  of  man,  may  be  embodied 
and  realized.  But  then  I  return  to  my  question  (Chap.  xi. 
Art.  17) :  Why  should  these  creatures  be  confined  to  inhabit 
other  planets  %  Why  should  they  not  dwell  on,  and  move  in 
and   about,   the   earth  1       They   are  precisely  the   Gnomes, 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  863 

Naiads,  and  Sylphs  of  the  Rosicrucians,  about  which  I  was 
talking  a  little  while  ago. 

AA.  There  are  some  other  objections  made  by  the  Critic 
in  a  worse  spirit.  He  tries  repeatedly  to  connect  your  specu- 
lations with  those  of  the  Vestiges  of  the  Creation. 

Z.  If  he  were  to  try  to  connect  me  with  an  answer  to  that 
book,  which  went  through  two  editions,  under  the  title  of  Indi- 
cations of  the  Creator,  he  would  be  nearer  the  mark.  At  least 
I  adopt  the  sentiments  of  this  latter  book  ;  and  they  agree 
with  those  of  the  Essay,  as  you  may  satisfy  yourself  by  look- 
ing. In  both  works,  the  placing  of  man  on  the  earth  is  re- 
garded as  an  event  out  of  the  ordinary  course  of  nature  ; 
directly  the  opposite  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Vestiges.  The 
Essay  is  mainly  employed,  first,  in  proving  this  doctrine,  and 
then  in  reasoning  from  it. 

AA.  Yes;  the  person  who,  after  reading  the  Essay,  so 
misrepresents  it,  using  (to  adopt  his  own  language)  "  the  bold- 
ness of  an  anonymous  writer,"  is  deserving  of  "  severe  cen- 
sure" and  "  grave  reproof." 

There  is  another  passage  which  will  give  you  some  pain. 
The  Critic  says  that  he  looks  to  a  future  existence  with  hopes 
which  the  study  of  the  heavens  has  enlarged ;  and  that  "  in 
the  infinity  of  space,  and  amid  infinity  of  life,  we  descry  the 
home  and  the  companions  of  the  future.  That  home  and  those 
companions  have  been  denied  us  by  the  author  of  the  work 
before  us." 

Z.  I  am  certainly  pained  at  hearing  such  a  remark.  If 
any  man  have  connected  his  hopes  and  images  of  an  existence 
beyond  this  life  with  his  astronomical  opinions,  I  should  be 
much  giieved  at  being  the  instrument  of  disturbing  such  a 
form  of  faith.'  But  at  the  same  time,  I  cannot  think  that  the 
partial  existence  of  such  notions, — unauthorized  fancies,  as  I 


364  ADIALOGUEON 

believe  them  to  be, — is  to  be  deemed  so  sacred  a  thing,  that 
we  are  not  to  be  allowed  to  speak  of  our  hope  and  belief  in  the 
Future  in  any  other  form. 

The  author  of  the  Vestiges  had  spoken,  complainingly,  of 
"  the  awakened  and  craving  mind  asking  what  science  can  do 
for  us  in  explaining  the  great  ends  of  the  author  of  Nature, 
and  our  relations  to  Him,  to  good  and  evil,  to  life  and  to 
eternity."  On  this  the  author  of  the  Indications  of  the  Creator 
remarked,  that  we  shall  be  able  to  bear  our  ignorance  the 
more  patiently,  if  we  have  not  looked  to  science  for  that  which 
science  cannot  give.  In  the  truth  and  importance  of  this  re- 
flection on  such  occasions,  I  entirely  agree. 

AB.  Since  this  Dialogue  was  first  printed,  the  Critic  has 
published  his  argument  on  the  Plurality  of  Worlds,  with  his 
name  to  the  book.  But  his  book  is  still  mainly  a  series  of 
vituperative  expressions  about  your  Essay.  He  offers  you 
warning  as  to  the  tendency  of  your  speculations.  He  says, 
"  However  sincere  may  be  his  piety,  which  we  do  not  ques- 
tion, we  tell  him  with  confidence  that  his  theories  are  replete 
with  danger  ;"  and  so  on. 

Z.  No  doubt  he  means  well.  But  is  this  we  the  language 
employed  in  the  book  with  the  Author's  name  to  it  ? 

AB.  Yes  ;  I  suppose  he  has  become  so  accustomed  to  the 
tone  of  the  anonymous  reviewer  that  he  uses  it  unconsciously. 
The  "  boldness  of  the  anonymous  writer,"  which  he  speaks  of, 
becomes  the  "  confidence"  of  the  singular  "  we."  But  what 
do  you  say  to  his  advice  1 

Z.  I  should  wish  to  give  him  a  few  words  of  warning  in 
return,  which  I  would  offer  with  a  very  sincere  desire  that  he 
should  not  do  mischief  without  intending  it. 

I  would  warn  him  that  the  doctrine  that  the  planets  are  all 
inhabited  like  the  earth,  and  that  the  stars  are  centres  of  in 


THE     PLURALITY     OF     WORLDS.  365 

habited  systems  like  the  Sun,  is  a  part  of  that  Nebular  Hy- 
pothesis which  he  holds  in  horror. 

I  would  warn  him  that  the  author  of  the  Vestiges  of  Cre- 
ation^ who  would  reject  my  opinions,  would  readily  accept  his. 

I  would  warn  him  that  the  habit  of  accusing  men  of  irrev- 
erence because  they  do  not  assent  to  his  explanation  of  the 
uses  of  every  part  of  creation,  is  very  unlikely  to  promote  a 
reverential  feeling  in  his  readers. 

I  would  warn  him  that  the  doctrine  that  there  are  innumer- 
able worlds  besides  that  human  world  in  which  God  has  re- 
vealed himself  to  man,  however  familiar  it  may  have  become 
to  those  who  take  their  opinions  from  modern  books  of 
popular  astronomy,  is  not  congenial  to  those  who  derive  their 
views  from  revelation. 

And  having  said  this,  I  hope  I  have  done  with  the  Critic  and 
his  criticism. 

BB.  But  here  is  a  Critic  of  another  mood,  who  speaks 
with  great  praise  and  admiration  of  your  Essay.  And  you 
will  not  value  his  praise  the  less,  that  he  is  a  Critic  who 
habitually  takes  a  religious  view  of  literary  works. 

Z.  I  certainly  hoped  for  sympathy  from  such  persons,  and 
I  have  found  it. 

BB,  He  quotes  with  strong  approval  the  passage  in  which 
(Chap.  xi.  Art.  34)  you  speak  of  the  "  lumps  which  have  flown 
from  the  potter's  wheel  of  the  Great  Worker,"  &c. 

AA.  That  is  curious,  for  your  other  Critic  "  consigns  it  to 
a  note,"  and  exclaims  at  it. 

Z.     But  does  my  favorable  Reviewer  find  no  faults  % 

BB.  He  taxes  you  with  misquoting  Professor  Owen ;  but 
th^  you  have  already  answered  in  talking  to  T.  He  says 
also  that  he  himself,  as  early  as  1844,  had  written  to  the 


366 


A    DIALOGUE     ON 


effect  that  the  Earth  alone  may  be  the  mhabited  part  of  the 
universe. 

Z.  I  have  no  wish  to  lay  any  stress  upon  the  originality 
of  the  views  presented  in  the  Essay.  I  now  know  that 
several  years  ago,  (in  1849)  Hugh  Miller,  in  his  First  Im- 
pressions of  England.  (Chap,  xvri.)  presented  an  argument  from 
Geology,  very  much  of  the  nature  of  that  which  I  have  em- 
ployed ;  and  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Birks,  in  a  little  tract  pub- 
lished in  1850,  urged  the  very  insecure  character  of  the  doc- 
trine that  the  planets  and  stars  are  inhabited.  These  coinci- 
dences with  my  views,  I  did  not  know  till  my  Essay  was  not 
only  written  but  printed.  As  to  myself,  the  views  which  I 
have  at  length  committed  to  paper,  have  long  been  in  my 
mind.  The  convictions  which  they  involved  grew  gradually 
deeper,  through  the  effect  of  various  trains  of  speculation ; 
and  I  may  also  say  that  when  I  proceeded  to  write  the  Essay, 
the  arguments  appeared  to  me  to  assume,  by  being  fully  un- 
folded, greater  strength  than  I  had  expected.  But  however 
that  may  be,  be  the  arguments  strong  or  weak,  there  they  are, 
delivered  in  all  sincerity  and  simplicity.  Liheravi  animam  meam, 

AB.  Here  is  another  Critic,  who,  also  looking  at  your 
speculations  from  a  religious  point  of  view,  approves  of  them 
in  general,  but  is  offended  at  what  you  say  in  your  last 
chapter ;  of  the  possibility  of  a  supernatural  interposition, 
which  might  take  place,  to  plant  upon  the  earth  the  germ  of  a 
Divine  Society,  as  at  the  Creation  of  man  there  was  placed 
upon  the  earth  the  germ  of  human  society  ;  and  which  might 
introduce  a  period  in  which  the  earth  should  be  tenanted  by  a 
more  excellent  creature  than  at  present. 

Z.  But  what  is  there  in  this,  at  which  a  religious  person 
can  be  offended  ^ 


THE    PLURALITY     OP     WORLDS.  867 

AB.  He  says  that  by  this  supposition,  Christ's  work  is  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  eliminated  from  this  present  world  ; 
and  asks,  Has  not  the  Supernatural  Interposition  already 
taken  place  ? 

Z.  That  a  Supernatural  Interposition  in  order  to  found  a 
Divine  Society  upon  earth  has  taken  place  already,  Revela- 
tion informs  us  ;  and  I  hoped  that  I  had  prevented  the  recog- 
nition of  this  fact  in  the  Essay  from  being  overlooked.  But  the 
question,  whether  our  scientific  views  can  in  any  manner  illus- 
trate this  Interposition,  still  remains,  and  is  not  to  be  lightly 
disposed  of.  Is  it  not  necessary  that  we  should  touch  with  the 
utmost  caution  and  forbearance,  upon  any  physical  analogies 
regarded  as  having  such  a  bearing  %  The  interposition  having 
occurred,  there  may  be  no  physical  analogy  which  at  all  illus- 
trates it ;  but  if  it  be  analogous  to  the  fact  that,  in  the  history 
of  the  earth,  there  has  been  already  once  placed  upon  the  earth 
a  creature  incomparably  more  excellent  than  its  previous  inhab 
itants,  the  question  occurs,  how  are  we,  on  this  view,  to  inter 
pret  this  greater  excellence  of  the  Creature,  since  the  Inter- 
position %  What  supposition  must  we  make  %  Is  man  more 
excellent  than  before,  because  he  is  becoming  better  by 
a  slow  progression  1  Or  is  it  because  he  is  to  be  further  ex- 
alted, by  a  Second  Coming  of  the  Divine  Power  1  Or  is  man's 
elevation  to  be,  not  an  exaltation  of  his  terrestrial  condition, 
but  his  transfer  to  a  new  state  of  existence  ?  I  have,  in  the 
Essay,  put  forth,  however  briefly,  these  three  suppositions  ; 
and  having  done  this,  I  thought  that  religious  persons  would 
see,  that  whatever  place  each  of  them  may  hold  in  the  contem- 
plations of  one  who  believes  that  such  a  Divine  Interposition 
has  taken  place,  he  could  neither  feel  himself  justified  in  press- 
ing upon  his  readers  any  one  of  these  views,  nor  in  rejecting 
them  all.      Analogies  between  the  government  of  the  natural 


868 376         THE     PLURALITY     OF    WORLDS. 

and  of  the  spiritual  world  are  to  be  dwelt  upon  with  great  re- 
serve and  caution ;  and  perhaps  can  never  be  safely  urged, 
except  as  negative  arguments,  to  show  that  what  religion  re- 
veals is  not  contrary  to  natural  probability.  And  therefore  I 
did  not  venture  further,  than  to  intimate,  that  when  we  are 
taught,  that  as  we  have  borne  the  image  of  the  earthy  we  shall 
also  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly,  we  may  find,  even  in 
natural  science,  reasons  for  opening  our  minds  to  the  reception 
of  the  cheering  and  elevating  announcement. 

AB.  I  think  that  what  you  have  said  in  Article  19 — 21  of 
your  last  Chapter  is  sufficient  to  suggest  this ;  and  certainly, 
by  attempting  to  enforce  any  of  the  alternative  suppositions 
which  you  have  mentioned,  you  would  have  given  more  of- 
fence to  many  readers,  than  you  have  done  by  leaving  your 
religious  readers  to  follow  their  own  choice  among  them. 
And  surely  the  way  in  which  these  suppositions  are  put  is 
such  as  to  show,  to  any  attentive  reader,  that  so  far  from 
doubting  whether  a  Divine  Interposition  have  taken  place,  the 
thing  you  doubt  is,  whether  it  can  receive  any  illustration 
from  the  doctrines  of  geology. 


Date  Due                          1 

OCT10'62 

Cr-^. 

.^^^c4^'' 

V 

1 

u^    -   ^ 

UA^     1    ^ 

y .  11  i  i  1 

MAi    '  'J 

^ 

BOSTON  COLLEGE 


_     3  9031   01651144  6 


67351 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  HEIGHTS 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 


Books  may  be  kept  for  two  weeks  and  may  be 
renewed   for    the   same   period,  unless    reserved. 

Two  cents  a  day  is  charged  for  each  book  kept 


overtime. 


If  you    cannot   find    what   you   want,  ask    the 
Librarian  who  will  be  glad  to  help  you. 

The  borrower  is  responsible  for  books  drawn 
on  his  card  and  for  all  fines  accruing  on  the  same. 


